


The Strength In Numbers

by Bigbadbroccoli



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: A very different Lila, Every combination of kwami/gender/appearance swap known to man, F/M, Identity Reveal, Kwami Swap, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Strangers to Partners to Lovers (Beetle/Chat Noire), Superhero shinanigans, WARNING strong language, new characters and relationships to be added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:01:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 29,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21524902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bigbadbroccoli/pseuds/Bigbadbroccoli
Summary: Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste are two normal teenagers who live normal lives until one day when a villain named Hawkmoth shows up to terrorize Paris, looking for the Black Cat and Ladybug kwamis. Marinette and Adrien meet the two kwamis and get transformed into Chat Noire (Marinette) and Beetle (Adrien) to fight the acuma that Hawkmoth has created to take their kwamis. They become Paris' beloved heroes and protect Paris from Hawkmoths attacks.But hawkmoth may not be the terrorist who everyone thinks he is. In the meantime something far eviler lurks in the shadows, preparing to strike when the heroes least expect it. They will need to take a part in a game of mind trickery that has been created for them and come out as victors... before its too late.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Chat Noire/Adrien Agreste, Chat Noire/Beetle
Comments: 7
Kudos: 18





	1. A Storm On The Horizon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I decided to write a miraculous ladybug kwami-swap fanfic because I got a lot of great ideas that just needed to be written down. I'm not sure if I will put everything in this fanfic, since I have so many so I may write another one after I'm done with this one (if I ever find the time to finish this one). This is the first fanfic I've ever written and English isn't my first language (technically it's my third) so everything might not be perfect. I should also say that I don't own any of the characters of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noire. With that out of the way, enjoy! :D

Marinette laughed as she flew around in the clouds over the city of Paris. The view of the city was stunning from this angle, All the buildings were engulfed with the orange light of the afternoon sun and the Eifel tower was glittering with a golden glow, almost like a crown casting its big shadow on the ground below. Marinette felt so relaxed flying around contemplating all the activity down in the city. Thousands of cars were driving on the streets, honking at each other trying to get through and the pavements on each side of every road where full of people going all different directions. Occasionally when the cars stopped big swarms of people walked across the streets and disappearing in the crowd. Marinette smiled as she took in the view, then she floated up over the clouds to feel the warmth of the sun. This was how life was supposed to be. The only thing that could make this feel a little less pleasant for Marinette was the fact that school would start tomorrow..... 

Suddenly she felt something bumping into her stomach. Startled she opened her eyes and looked straight into the blue luminescent eyes of a black cat.

She screamed as she woke up from her dream. She sighed in relief as she understood that it was only a dream and that she wasn't falling to her death. That damn cat had invaded her dreams again, making her wake up. The past week the black cat had haunted her dreams making her wake up screaming with her heart in her throat and this morning was no exception. Yawning she looked at the alarm clock on her bedside table and nearly fell out of her bed.

Shit. It was the first day of school and she already slept through the alarm. As she was scrambling around her room to put some clothes on and get her things she thanked the black cat in the back of her mind for waking her up and ran down the stairs to eat breakfast, almost tripping on her own feet in the process.

"Good morning" she greeted her mom while pouring yogurt and cereals into a bowl.

"Good morning honey. Aren't you a bit late for school?"

"Yes, mom. I can't believe I slept through my alarm" Marinette groaned.

"Oh honey, don't stress yourself, it's not so bad as you think" Sabine replied looking at Marinette with a concerned look. "You're not that late after all."

"I am going to start the year off by coming late and probably get placed beside Chloe again" Marinette rambled on. "Ugh, why does Chloe have to be in my class?"

Marinette had had a few bad experiences with Chloe over the years. Chloe was the daughter of Paris' mayor and a spoiled bully who always managed to be a pain in the ass to everyone around her. Since the first day they met, Chloe had disliked Marinette and made her schooldays a lot worse by tormenting her what seemed like every waking moment. She did NOT want to sit anywhere near her again. Marinette sighed and looked at her yogurt-splattered shirt. This was going to be a long day. She quickly ate the rest of her meal and went to change her shirt and fetch her school stuff. Marinette kissed her parents goodbye for the day with a few minutes to spare. She wasn't as late as she first thought and was in a good mood going to school. With her head up in the clouds as she walked she almost didn't notice the crosswalk ahead of her and nearly stumbled out in the road.

 _'Phew, that was close'_ she thought with her heart beating like crazy. She really needed to pay more attention to where she was going, otherwise, she might end up causing a road incident. The lights turned yellow for the cars as a black cat walked out on the road. Marinette swallowed as she saw a speeding car trying to pass before the red light and acted without thinking.

She ran out to grab the startled cat and jumped to the safety of the other side of the pavement as the car continued down the road. The people around her seemed not to have noticed what happened and walked over the crosswalk as Marinette put down the cat. She flinched when she saw that it looked just like the cat that had haunted her dreams. The cat gave a suspicious look at its rescuer and sniffed cautiously on Marinette's hand. It purred and stroked itself against her leg making Marinette smirk.

"Okay little kitty, since I saved you, can you leave my dreams alone now?"

She studied the cat while it stroked itself against her leg and purred, satisfied. It was completely black, from the tip of its nose to the very end of its tail. Marinette looked at the cat's collar to see if the cat had a phone number to call the owner. Since the cat was roaming around freely and walking on the road she suspected it to be a fugitive. On the collar, a plate formed like a paw hung beside a golden bell that jingled when the cat continued to show its affection to Marinette. The plate had a name carved on it with squiggly letters. 'Plagg.'

 _'Huh, that's a weird name'_ she thought. _'And no phone number either.'_

The cat stroked itself against marinates leg another time, then it stretched itself, yawned and walked a little bit forward to look back at her as to say: 'are we going or not?'

"Do you want to go with me to school little ki... Plagg?"

As a response, the cat started walking in the direction of her school and Marinette followed close behind.

"Well, I guess that means you are coming with me for the time being" she said to Plagg.

Plagg didn't seem to notice Marinette talking with him and looked at his surroundings with a very snobby look on his face. Marinette snickered under her breath. This cat was so adorable! She resisted the urge to pick him up and give him a big hug that probably would have resulted in Marinette receiving scratches to her face so she continued walking, looking at Plagg instead. After a few minutes, they reached the school. The old three-story building stood proudly facing an open area where a lot of students were standing in little groups chatting with their friends after the long summer vacation. Good, that meant she wasn't as late as she thought. She picked up Plagg so that he wouldn't get lost and looked around to find her friends. 

"Hey, Mari!" A voice from behind her shouted.

She turned around and smiled at the person that greeted her.

"Nino!" She said and ran to embrace him.

Plagg, not enjoying getting squished, snarled jumping down from Marinette's grip and scowled at them.

"Whoa, I didn't know you had a cat" Nino said looking at Plagg with a surprised look.

"I didn't until this morning," Marinette said to him while picking up the upset Plagg again. "I met him ten minutes ago when he was walking out on a road so I saved him from being run over and now he follows me everywhere. He doesn't have a number to call on his collar which means I don't know how to contact his owners, so he's staying with me until I figure something out."

"You're a strange dude, you know that?" Nino said to Plagg who gave him a suspicious look. "And you have a strange name too apparently" He added looking at the plate. "I've never heard of a name like that."

"Yeah, it's a bit strange" Marinette agreed. She was not going to tell Nino about her dream though. If she did, he would laugh at her saying that it was fate that she met Plagg and he would probably not stop teasing her for the entire day.

"Hey Mari, I saw Nath. Let's go!" Nino said to her and turned around. "HEY NATH! OVER HERE!" He shouted at the redhead standing a little further away.

"Hey guys" He said to them as he approached the duo.

"Hi, Nathaniel" Marinette said with a smile giving him a hug.

"Dude" Nino said to Nathaniel. "Did you know that Jagged Stone just released a new song yesterday? It's awesome!"

Marinette smiled as she watched her friends talk about the musician. As usual, Nino the music fanatic as Marinette called him, was talking about music. he was a great friend who loved to talk with everyone about his favorite artists. He had grown even taller during the summer, almost as tall as Ivan. His charisma and golden eyes sparkling with joy had made a few girls look twice in his direction recently. Of course, the distracted Dj hadn't noticed yet and Marinette was waiting on the day someone came to him asking him out. Nathaniel, on the other hand, was shy and introverted, not at all like Nino. With his bright red and long hair and tiny frame, he was almost the opposite of Nino with his long arms and legs, black, curly hair and mocha-colored skin. Even though he didn't talk much, he was always kind to everyone and lately Marinette had started to suspect that he had a secret crush on her. Lastly, there was herself, known as 'sassy Marinette' who didn't take shit from anyone. She couldn't stand someone being treated unjustly and when someone was being bullied she always went to stand up for them. She also wanted to be a fashion designer and had already made a few garments. She loved animals, which was probably the reason this cat was following her around now.

As Nino and Nathaniel went ahead she put down Plagg and spoke to him.

"Plagg, you can't enter here so if you wait out here while I go to school I'll come back and get you when I'm done okay?"

Marinette looked anxiously as Plagg stared at her with his iridescent blue eyes. He then meowed softly, stroked himself against her leg and walked away. Relieved Marinette walked through the doors with the other students adjoined up with Nathaniel and Nino again.

  
——<><><><><>——

  
In the classroom, everyone sat down at their usual places and packing up notebooks and pens while chatting with each other before their teacher arrived. Behind her, Nathaniel and Ivan talked lively about some Youtuber she didn't recognize, occasionally getting interrupted by Nino commenting something they said. Marinette sat down at her usual seat and thought about the day so far. First waking up from the usual strange dream and then accidentally meeting a cat with looked exactly like the one in the dream. Well, it couldn't get better than last years first day of school anyways because...

"Hey!" A voice interrupted her train of thought. "You are sitting on my spot!"

Marinette sighed. Of course. The obligatory harassment from Chloe. How could she have forgotten?

"I'm sorry Chloe, but I was here first" she said. "I really don't have the energy to deal with her right now' she thought as Chloe looked like she was about to swell to double her normal size in anger.

"Move Maribrat" she snapped at her. "Adrien is going to sit in the front seat. Shoo"

"Who is Adrien?" Marinette asked.

"Don't you even know who Adrien Agreste is? And you are supposed to like fashion?" Chloe said with a look of disdain. "He's the son of Gabriel Agreste the fashion designer. And he's like my best friend EVER so don't even dare to lay a finger on him."

"Well if he is your friend I don't even want to be near him. Go sit somewhere else and stop disturbing me. I'm not moving."

There was a time when she wouldn't have had the courage to go against Chloe's bullshit, but that time had passed with the help and encouragement of Nino and Nathaniel. She was known as sassy Marinette for a reason after all.

"You heard her. Go sit somewhere else and stop bothering everyone" a voice behind her said.

Marinette turned around to see a brown-haired girl scowling at Chloe. Chloe huffed and walked off with Sabrina trailing after her.

"Wow, that girl needs a major attitude adjustment" the new girl said.

"You tell me" Marinette replied shaking her head. "I've been in the same class as her for as longs I can remember."

"My name is Alya, by the way" the brunette said and stretched out her hand.

"Marinette, nice to meet you" Marinette responded taking the outstretched hand.

"I just have to say, the way you handled that Chloe was fantastic, girl!" Alya said to her. "You don't let her affect you at all."

"Yeah, I had enough of Chloe's attitude a looong time ago" Marinette snorted.

Alya and Marinette smirked at each other when their teacher entered the classroom and asked the students to quiet down.

"Today is the first day of school as you all know, and we have two new students in this class. Adrien Agreste, would you come here to introduce yourself?"

"He's not here Miss" Chloe chirped.

Miss Bustier frowned and looked down on the class list again.

"Well then, Alya Cesaire, would you come here instead?"

  
——<><><><><>——

  
The rest of the day proceeded like a usual first school day would. They introduced Alya to the rest of the class (to Chloe's annoyance) and then continued with regular lessons. At lunch, Marinette, Nino, Nathaniel and Alya sat together and had a great time. Alya was a really nice person and she immediately became a member of their friend group. They joked around so much that Marinette felt like Alya had been her best friend forever, even if they only just met that same day.

After finishing lunch they hung out with the rest of the class, except for Chloe and Sabrina who had disappeared somewhere. Marinette noticed that Ivan was looking discretely at Mylene. She sighed and whispered to Alya how cute they would look together if Ivan would muster up the courage to ask her out. She agreed and they burst out giggling. They got interrupted by Ivan shouting angrily at Kim.

"Hey stop it, Kim!"

"I'm just saying" Kim replied in a teasing tone. "If you don't get a move on....."

"SHUT UP! IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" Ivan screamed angrily and walked off to the school building.

"Was that what I think it was?" Alya asked Marinette with a frown.

"Most definitely" she responded with a sigh.

"Well, I would get pretty angry too if someone was about to say that out loud when half the school and my crush could hear" Alya remarked dryly.

Marinette agreed with her completely. It was very mean of Kim to say that so everyone could hear. She walked over to Kim.

"Was that really necessary Kim?" She asked him.

"I just said that..."

"It doesn't matter what you said" Marinette scolded him. She lowered her voice so that only Kim could hear her and continued. "We all know that Ivan has a crush on Mylene, but that doesn't give you the right to spill it like that! It's his secret to tell, not yours. He obviously didn't want you to say it"

Kim rolled his eyes at her and turned to walk away. Marinette grabbed his arm to make him face her again.

"Go and apologize" she added firmly. He held her gaze for a moment before looking away and mumbling "okay, fine" and walking off in the direction that Ivan walked off too.

Marinette sighed and returned to Alya and her friends. They all gave her an understanding look and continued to talk about the classes they had left. They had chemistry next period and Mrs. Mendeleiev would probably scold them if they arrived only a minute late. They went to tech their things when a rumble shook the earth startling everybody.

"What the heck was that?" Marinette screamed.

"An earthquake? I've never seen anything like it in my entire life!" Alya shouted back. "We've gotta run or the school will crumble around us!"

Students were screaming and running in all directions in a panicked rush to get out. They all ran outside and all their jaws dropped to the floor when they took in the scene that unfolded before their eyes. An enormous stone monster almost as tall as the school was tearing the roof of the school, evidently searching for something. Then it stopped and screamed with the full might of its enormous lungs.

"KIIIIIIIIIIM! WHERE ARE YOU? GET OUT HERE AND SAY THAT TO MY FACE AGAIN!"

Marinette gulped. "Oh my god. It's Ivan." She whispered.

"Run!" Nino said and dragged Alya and Nathaniel out of the way from the enormous fist that plunged from the sky right where they stood a few seconds ago. It smashed a hole in the wall and made it crumble down right beside Marinette, obstructing the way to her friends.

"Marinette! Are you okay girl?" Alya shouted to her.

"Yes, I'm fine! Though I'm blocked in here by all the rubble" she shouted back to her.

"Stay right there! We're going to find a way to get you out" Alya shouted and said something to Nathaniel. "We'll get the police! Stay strong until then!"

"Okay!" She shouted back.

She heard a loud meow behind her and turned around.

"Plagg! What the hell are you doing here?" She said to him and picked him up.

"Listen Marinette, we don't have much time before that stone-idiot destroys half of the city. You've got to listen to me"

Marinette's jaw dropped for the second time. Wait what? Plagg could talk?

Plagg sighed and jumped down from her arms standing in front of her. Looking her in the eye he said: "Look, kid, just say 'Plagg, transform me' okay?"

"Wait why can you talk" Marinette blurted out, too confused to talk properly. "And why should I say Plagg, transform me, that's..... whooaaAAA WHAT IS HAPPENING!?!" She screamed when Plagg dissolved in a black mist enveloping her body with a flash of blue light.

The mist cleared and she looked at herself. She was wearing a black leather suit that consisted of a skintight jacket, a pair of black leather gloves with a ring on her right hand, black leather pants and a pair of thick boots with steel caps that looked like the top of a paw. To complete the outfit she had a belt wrapped around her waist with the end exiting from the buckle that was positioned on her back like a tail and a golden bell that hung around her neck, just like Plagg's bell but bigger. On the side of the belt hung a metal stick with a blue paw print on it. She felt something moving in her hair and reached up to grab a pair of cat ears. What in the world just happened?

 _'Now that you are transformed I can explain this much easier to you'_ Plaggs voice echoed in her mind.

Just what was happening to her this day? Which wicked god was playing her a joke?

 _'I haven't introduced myself properly'_ Plaggs voice once again said to her in her mind. _'My name is Plagg and I am a kwami, a spirit animal that can give humans powers. My power is the power of the black cat, with gives you better eyesight and sense of smell, superhuman agility and reflexes, the ability to climb on things and the power of destruction to put it simply.'_

 _'What?'_ Marinette thought.

 _'Kid, I've just made you into what you humans nowadays call a superhero. A real one with awesome powers. Would you be so kind as to test them out on your stone friend over there?'_ Plagg huffed.

_'Well okay but I'm not sure I'm the right person for the job. I'm super clumsy and...'_

_'Just shut up and get going before he makes half of Paris homeless'_ Plagg interrupted her. _'You are perfectly capable of fighting that guy. Why do you think I chose you? I'll explain everything when you fight him.'_

  
——<><><><><>——

  
When Marinette swung herself out of the rubble after Plagg explaining everything a little more she jumped up on the roof to look at the mess Ivan had created. Half of the school's roof was gone and big holes in the wall where punched out when Ivan had taken out his anger on the building. Marinette prayed anxiously that no-one had been hurt and that Ivan hadn't found Kim yet because he would probably kill him by accident even if he wasn't so angry. She tried not to freak out thinking that she had to fight something that could do this much damage and sighed.

She heard a roar in the distance and looked over to see a trail of damaged buildings where Ivan had passed through. She gulped and swung herself in that direction.

 _'Jeez, that kid needs to calm himself down, otherwise, he seriously will make half of Paris homeless'_ Plagg commented.

 _'I know, I need to stop him as fast as possible'_ she replied.

When she finally caught up with Ivan he had reached the Eiffel Tower. She groaned as she saw that the police had made it before her and they were shouting at Ivan to stand down. She swooped down to snatch the megaphone from the police officer and shouted to all the people around her.

"Don't shoot him! I doubt that it would hurt him so please stand back and let me handle this!"

"And who are you supposed to be?" an officer shouted to her.

 _'Think of a name kid, Quick.'_ Plagg said to her.

Marinette stopped to think for a second and then replied using the megaphone so that everyone could hear her.

"I'm Chat Noire, The superhero that will protect you all from now on" She said. "This boy has been transformed by someone and is being used. He can't control his actions but I know how to defeat him without harming him."

"Who did this then? And how do we know we can trust you?" another officer shouted.

"I don't know yet, but I am going to protect you all and defeat him."

As an answer to that Ivan shouted "Chat Noire, give Kim and your miraculous to me peacefully or I'll destroy the whole city!"

"No, I can't. Just surrender and stop this Ivan!"

"I'm not Ivan anymore! I'm Stoneheart! And I'm going to take your miraculous!" he said and jumped towards her to catch her.

"Oh no you don't" she said and quickly grabbed the officer beside her and jumped out of the way of Ivan's enormous fists.

"Thanks, Chat Noire. He would have killed me for sure."

She smiled and winked at him. "What are superheroes for?" She said and jumped away to Ivan again.

 _'Well, they seem to have accepted your help at least'_ Plagg said to her. _'That went much smoother than I thought it would go.'_

 _'It helps that they have a stone-man as tall as a building attacking them'_ she replied, exasperated. _'Plagg I don't know if I can do this.’_

_'Of course you can! Like I said before kid, I chose you for a reason. You are smart and brave, you have a very good chance to beat him in my opinion.'_

She collected all her courage and swung her staff to hit Stonehearts leg. He lost his balance and crashed into the ground right in front of a police car. The police officers beside the car ran away and signaling to the officers to retreat, finally letting Chat Noire Handle things properly. She helped Officer Raincomprix out of his bashed car and focused on Stoneheart again. He slowly got to his feet again and threw a punch at Chat who dodged it and smacked him on the back his head, making him fall on his face.

She smiled in triumph only to get bashed by his arm that he had swung at her as he fell. She slammed into the wall of a nearby building, busting right through it. She winced as she got up to continue fighting Stoneheart. She jumped down from the building, nearly getting hit by a giant fist again.

 _'Plagg, talk to me! How do I defeat him?'_ She thought to him.

_’Okay, kid. You need to look after an object on him that is colored purple. That’s where the acuma is.’_

_'Well, it seems like he is closing his fist around something. That's probably where it is if its the work of the butterfly miraculous. Okay then'_ she thought. _'I need him to open his hand. How can I make him do that?'_

She ran around Stoneheart and jumped up on his back to smack him on the back of his head but he noticed and grabbed her before she managed to hit him. He started to crush her with his enormous fist and Chat Noire began to feel lightheaded from the lack of oxygen. She extended her staff to open his hand and jumped out. She landed hard on her back, gasping for air. She needed to stop him now, otherwise, things would get really ugly. Dodging Stonehearts fists again, she got an idea and used her staff to launch herself on the roof of a house where she started to tease Stoneheart so that he would follow her.

"You are so slow, you know that? Over here, gravel pile!"

"Shut up!" he shouted back and ran to smash her.

She jumped out of the way when his fists hit the house and it crumbled over his right hand. She then put her staff in-between his fingers, bending them to open his hand. It opened and a crumpled piece of purple paper fell out. She snatched it and followed Plaggs' previous instructions to destroy it. A purple butterfly flew out while a cloud of purple and black smoke enveloped Stoneheart.

 _'So I was right'_ Plagg said to her. _'This complicates things'_

The smoke dissipated and where there previously was a big stone monster Ivan now sat on the ground looking confused. She caught the acuma and went to check on Ivan.

"Are you okay? What happened?"

"I swear, I didn't do anything on purpose! It’s like I woke up from a nightmare. The last thing I remember before that was a guy in my school saying to me that I didn't have the guts to tell a girl that I like her and I got mad. Then I went to fetch my headphones to listen to some music to calm myself down and a strange voice said that he could help me get back at Kim" Ivan replied. "He said his name was Hawkmoth or something like that"

"Hey it's okay, it's over now" Chat Noire said to him.

A flock of reporters ran up to them and started to bombard Chat Noire with questions.

"What happened here?"

"Was it a terrorist attack?"

"Is this the boy that turned into a monster?"

"Are you the new superheroine of Paris?"

"I will explain everything if you stop asking me questions!" Chat told them exasperated. She was still full of adrenaline from the fight making her a bit jumpy. The reporters calmed down and she cleared her throat. "This was the work of the butterfly miraculous holder, Hawkmoth. He acumatises people that have had a bad day with these little purple acuma butterflies." She held up the acuma so that everyone could see. "Therefore I am here to protect you from the acumas he creates" She said and whispered 'cataclysm'. The acuma turned into dust in her hand.

”What’s a miraculous?”

”So this is means that anyone could get acumatized?”

”You said that you will be protecting this city from now on. Are you also going to help the police with criminals?”

The reporters began to question them again but Chat put the dust in her pocket to grab Ivan and used her staff to get on top of a building, away from the reporters. She asked Ivan where he lived and took him home. His parents thanked her and wanted to invite her for tea, but she excused herself to get away because her ring was beeping signaling that she didn't have a lot of time left in her superhero form. As she swung herself back to the Eiffel Tower she looked at the damage the city had taken. She had asked a police officer if someone got hurt and miraculously the people that where hospitalized all had wounds that weren't deadly. But some of them had gotten badly hurt and one was in a coma. The police and families of the people that were hospitalized thanked her for saving the city. Jumping away on the rooftops of Paris, she stopped on one that had a good view of the city. 

_'Good job kid, I am very proud of you. You handled that really well.'_

_'Thank you Plagg, but I didn't do such a good job'_ she replied with a gloomy tone. _’People got hurt and the acuma damaged loads of buildings. I was so nervous, what if everyone noticed that I was afraid? The people need an icon, something they can trust and rely on. I’m still not sure that I’m the right person for the job Plagg.’_

_’You may feel afraid kid, but you never hesitated when saving the police officers and defeating the acuma. But most importantly you prevented it from getting even worse. Can you imagine what would have happened if you hadn’t defeated the acuma?’_

_’I guess you have a point’_ she replied to Plagg and sighed.

The beep of the ring on her hand signaling that she had very little energy left in the suit scattered her thoughts. Chat Noire got up and jumped away towards her home on the rooftops. She landed in a deserted back alley and detransformed. After checking that no-one saw her she walked towards her parent's bakery with Plagg strolling after her.

"What should I do with this acuma dust?" she asked plagg after realizing that she was still holding on to it.

"Put it in a jar or something, as a trophy of your first victory" he replied. "You deserve it."

——<><><><><>——

In his lair, Hawkmoth swore through his teeth. His minion had gotten completely outmatched by that Chat Noire! His minion, that was supposed to be unstoppable! He sighed in frustration and watched as she destroyed his acuma through his telepathic link with it. He got surprised when he still felt it hold on to its life after it got turned into dust. He had to ask Nooroo later what that meant. Wouldnt it be perfect if he could revive the acuma and per say, destroy Chat's home? That sure was a great idea.

"Just you wait, Chat Noire" he whispered to his acumas that where fluttering aimlessly around him. "I am going to make your life into hell!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of the first chapter! I don't know how often I will be able to update this fanfic because I am incredibly busy with school right now, but we'll see! If you liked it or have any ideas leave them in the comments below. Au revoir!


	2. Beetle To The Rescue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter out! This one was partially pre-written because I split up the original first chapter, so I'm not going to be able to update this fast in the future, especially now when I have like ten exams this week and the next one. In this chapter, we get introduced to Adrien/Beetle and all the shenanigans in his first schoolday, as well as a little more details and lore about the Miraculous. If you have any suggestions, leave them in the comments below. Enjoy!

"This is Nadja Chamack, reporting live from the Eiffel Tower. An enormous stone monster is attacking the city and police are warning everyone nearby to evacuate as quickly as possible. If you live nearby, then please search for shelter. What's this? A girl in black is shouting to everyone to stand back and let her handle things. Is she a special forces soldier? A hero coming to the rescue? The stone monster has noticed her now, and is charging to attack..."

Adrien zoned out while watching the report on Stoneheart for the fifth time in a row. The sheet music he should be practicing was abandoned on his piano when he ran to see the news report. He watched as Chat Noir trapped Stonehearts fist and opening the other one, freeing the acuma. The camera zoomed in on Chat Noir as she caught the butterfly and went to check on the boy that had gotten acumatized. Such an amazing girl. She had defeated the giant stone monster without hesitation when the police were too afraid to fight it. He felt really reassured when he watched her determined gaze as she destroyed the acuma.

His first schoolday was beginning tomorrow since he had a photoshoot he couldn't miss today. Because if he would have been out in the city when a crazy monster on a rampage to destroy everything his father would have prohibited him from going out of the house ever again. He hadn’t gone to a public school since his mother disappeared. He was very excited to stop with homeschooling and go to a real one again. Though at second thought, now that the city had been attacked, his father would probably forbid him to go again. Sighing, he turned off the lights in his room, changed into his pajamas and when to bed.

The next morning Nathalie woke him up too early in Adrien's opinion. He hadn’t managed to sleep until very late, thinking about the fight that went down yesterday. He groaned and got up to eat breakfast. He entered the dining room and looked surprised at his father who sat at the end of the table. This was the first time that his father had joined him for breakfast since his mother had disappeared. 

”Sit down Adrien. I need to talk to you.”

Oh. He probably wanted to talk about forbidding Adrien from going to school. He sat down as Gabriel Agreste began to talk. 

”As you probably know, yesterday, a monster attacked your school. I was thinking about not letting you go there anymore, but then Nathalie got the idea to get a bodyguard to drive you. So, from now on the condition for you going to public school is that your bodyguard will escort you to and from school every day and that you'll still attend to fencing and your photoshoots, as well as practicing piano in your spare time.”

*Thank you, father!” Adrien said and hugged him. ”I promise that I'll be careful.” 

”Good. I look forward to meeting the new friends you will make at school” Gabriel replied with a little smile breaking up the stern and serious expression he always wore. Adrien smiled and poured cereals and milk into his bowl. This day was going to be awesome.

After finishing his breakfast he put his books in a bag and walked to the car that was parked outside the gates. He greeted his bodyguard and sat down on the back seat. The ride to his school was very short, and they arrived after five minutes. Adrien's heart skipped a beat when he got out of the car and walked up the front stairs of the school. All around him students were talking and laughing with each other as they walked to their classes. He was so excited that at first, he didn’t hear the voice that was calling him.

”Adrikins! Over here!”

”Hi Chloe” he greeted her. ”Where is our classroom?”

”Follow me!” She chirped and dragged him with her.

He smiled. Chloe was very bossy and snotty sometimes, but he had learned that deep down, she really cared for people. Too bad she almost never showed it to others. They arrived at the classroom and Adrien saw that they were the first to arrive. Soon he would meet his new classmates! He noticed Chloe taking out a chewing gum from her mouth and sticking it on the seat behind him.

”Chloe, what are you doing?”

”Oh, I’m just teaching the brat that sits here a lesson. Watch and learn Adrikins!” she told him as she sat down at her bench.

”Come on Chloe, that’s really mean” he said and got up to remove it. As he grabbed the gum he heard a voice behind him.

”Hey! What do you think you are doing?”

Startled, he looked up to see a dark-haired girl with Asian features and cute freckles standing with her hands on her hips and glaring at him. He heard Chloe laugh beside him and the expression on the dark-haired girl's face became one of disgust.

”Oh. You are friends with Chloe” she said with a voice so cold Adrien felt shivers go down his spine and walked up to her seat. ”Now that you are done, could you get out of my way so I can clean my chair?”

Adrien stepped aside, trying to explain himself.

”I didn’t…”

”Yes, I bet you didn’t do it on purpose, right? You slipped and suddenly the chewing gum just appeared out of thin air” she cut him off with anger in her words. ”I don’t want to hear your lame excuses. Shut up and move” she snapped and walked past him to remove the chewing gum.

Adrien stood still just staring at herder a moment, completely mortified. Then he sat down at his seat just as more students entered the classroom. He thought about trying to talk with the girl again to explain the situation, but she would probably lash out at him again. Adrien felt frustrated and humiliated that Chloe had let the blame been put on him instead of standing up for him. As he was about to walk over to Chloe to confront her the teacher entered the classroom and everyone settled down. 

”Good morning everyone” she said. ”As you probably have noticed our other new student has arrived today. Adrien Agreste, would you please come here to introduce yourself?”

Great. Now he could embarrass himself in front of the cute girl he just unintentionally insulted. He needed to come up with an apology that would be inconspicuous enough for everyone else so that only she understood. As he got up and walked over to his teacher Adrien heard the students whispering.

”Wait, I’ve seen him before.”

”Yeah, me too.”

”Isn’t he the one from the clothing commercials on channel three?”

Sighing he began to talk. ”Hi everybody, my name as you heard is Adrien. I think some of you already have figured out who I am so I’m going to speed through it. I'm the son of Gabriel Agreste, the owner of the Agreste clothing brand. You’ve probably seen me on advertisements since I model for his company. But I don’t want that to be your image of me. I’m new here and don’t really know how things work since I got homeschooled after my mother disappeared. I don’t want your judgment to be clouded with the image that you have gotten of me until now, because things aren’t always as they seem to be at first glance.” 

As he said the last sentence he looked directly at the black-haired girl. She stared back at him with an unreadable expression. He continued.

”So I want to say that I look forward to getting to know all of you” he finished.

”Thank you, Adrien, you can go and sit down again. Class, open your English books to page 16 and start working.”

Adrien when back to his bench, hoping that she understood what he meant. They where discussing a text this lesson so Adrien got the chance to chat a little with his bench companion during the English lesson. Apparently he was friends with Marinette, the girl he had managed to offend. Adrien understood the opportunity before him and told him what happened to get some advice.

”Wow dude, you really have gotten yourself into a mess. But I guess its to be expected if you hang out with Chloe. She’s the main culprit of almost every single one” his bench mate said, chuckling under his breath. ”But I don’t think you have to worry about Marinette, she will probably forgive you if you just talk with her.”

”Well, that's the problem. I tried to talk with her but she didn’t let me explain” Adrien responded, discouraged.

”Just try again after she has calmed herself down a bit. She can be a bit snappy if she’s had a bad day, and especially if Chloe is involved. In the meantime, I think you need a friend to hang out with other than Chloe” he said as he reached out with his hand. ”I’m Nino. It’s a pleasure to meet you, dude.” Adrien smiled and took it. ”Adrien. It’s nice meeting you too.”

After finishing class they all went to eat lunch. Adrien found himself staring at Marinette in the queue and he quickly looked away. He didn’t want to get caught staring and offend her more than he already had. He got his food and looked for a place to sit when he saw Nino waving at him form a table. He started walking in that direction but someone bumped into him with a tray of food. He barely saved his tray from spilling its contents all over the place while catching the falling person beside him.

”Sorry I wasn’t looking where I was…” Marinette said but stopped talking abruptly when she saw who she was talking to.

”I’m sorry as well. The bubblegum in class this morning was Chloe's work so I tried to remove it but you called me out before I had a chance to explain myself. I hope we can still be friends if you’re not mad at me” he blurted out quickly before she got the chance to say anything else.

"Oh."

She looked at him with a mix of guilt and amusement making Adrien's heart skip a beat. 

”I’m the one who should be saying sorry then” she said. ”I shouldn’t have jumped the gun like that. Chloe's laugh of evil made me snap and when I’m angry I don’t think straight.”

”We're good then?” Adrien asked her.

”We're good” she replied to him. She smiled at him dragging him away towards the table where Nino sat.

After joining up with the rest of the group at the table she introduced Adrien to everyone. Adrien greeted a lot of people he didn’t recognize. Apparently, their class hung out with a lot of students from other classes as well. He looked at Marinette as she talked with everyone. She was so kind and open to everyone, so unlike his home where cordiality was seen by his father as the correct way to talk to people.

”Seeing something you like?” Nino whispered in his ear making him jump.

”No, I mean yes! She’s so kind and funny, I’m just not used to it.”

”Ooh, do we already have a lovebird? Alya is going to be happy” he chuckled while Adrien turned into a tomato.

”It isn’t like that! She is just a very nice person okay?” Adrien replied to Nino.

”Right, and I'm Chat Noire” Nino replied, still chuckling.

  
——<><><><><>——

  
After finishing lunch they had math and chemistry. Adrien was glad to finally have someone to study with, instead of listening to Nathalie monologuing about a subject and interrogating him. This was much more fun. He hadn’t realized that the schoolday was over until their teacher went out of the classroom and the students where packing their things and he walked out of the school with his new friends. The marks from yesterday's battle where still fresh on the school, although all the debris left on the floor had been removed. His classmates started to talk about how awesome the fight had been. Adrien shuddered a little looking at the big holes that had been punched out in the school, thinking about how terrifying the stone monster must have been. Paris’ heroine sure was brave, taking on that thing all alone.

”He really did a number on the school, huh” he said to Nino.

”Yes, it was terrifying. Although Ivan doesn’t deserve to be avoided like that. It wasn’t his fault he got controlled by Hawkmoth.”

Adrien looked over to his classmate. He hadn’t realized that Ivan was the person that all of Paris feared at the moment. He watched as Ivan talked with Nathaniel. He didn’t seem like he could turn into a literal rage monster rampaging through the city. He was just a normal guy. Hawkmoth really twisted people into the worst version of themselves. He walked up to Ivan to talk to him.

”I can’t really believe Hawkmoth made you do all this. It must feel awful.” 

”You bet. People avoid me wherever I go like I could turn into a monster at any time” Ivan replied with resignation. 

”And who says you can’t? Once a monster, always a monster, am I right Adrikins?” 

Adrien turned around to see Chloe standing behind him. His expression darkened.  
”Chloe, will you stop being mean to everyone?” He said to her. ”He has already apologized to everyone and besides, he wasn’t even himself! He was controlled by Hawkmoth.”

”Yeah, like that makes any difference. He's still a monster in my eyes” Chloe said nonchalantly.  
”Come, Sabrina! Let's go somewhere less nerdy.”

Adrien turned around to look where Ivan went and saw him walking off with shoulders hanging. Adrien walked up to him but Ivan spoke before he had a chance to say anything.

”I know what you are going to say, Adrien. But it doesn’t matter what you tell people, there will always be someone that doesn't think like you do, and I can’t change their opinion of me. I appreciate your concern, but it's okay, I promise.”

Adrien watched as his classmate walked away. He heard Nathalie calling his name and sighed, walking to the car that was waiting on him. He waved goodbye to his friends and got in the car, greeting his bodyguard and Nathalie. He sighed as he looked at the school, shrinking in size in the distance. As the car stopped at a red light, a little ladybug came flying through the open window on Adrien's side, landing in the hair of the oblivious boy.

  
——<><><><><>——

  
When He arrived at home, Adrien when straight to his room. His father would work until late and probably not join him for dinner, so he preferred to stay in his room and practice the song he was learning on the piano. As he sat down and began to play the first notes he thought about how he used to watch his mom play when he was little. She played for him every day and teached him how to do it himself. That was the main reason he still stuck to it after she disappeared mysteriously. His trail of thought got interrupted by a little ladybug that flew down and placed itself on the back of his hand. He smiled and continued playing. Nature had always put him in a good mood. He still remembered when he went to the forest with his family for the first time and he ran around chasing butterflies and looking wide-eyed at everything new. That was back when they still where a happy family together. He sighed as the last chords of the song he was playing faded out into silence.

”Wow, that was really beautiful!” A squeaky voice said out of nowhere.

Adrien almost jumped out of the piano stool in shock. ”Who’s there?” he said, frantically looking around his room to find the source of the voice. 

”Down here.” The voice came from the piano. But there was no-one there….

”I’m on the piano. Can you see me now?” The voice said with an amused tone. Wait. Was the ladybug talking with him?. He must be hallucinating or something from the lack of sleep. He really needed to sleep more, otherwise, he could get sick and not be able to go to school.

”Seriously? I’m right infront of you.”

”Where?” Adrien asked. He was still confused as to where the person was. Could it be a speaker planted by a paparazzi? 

”On the piano” The voice huffed. ”You’re looking at me right now.”

Adrien couldn’t believe his eyes. Was the ladybug really talking to him?

”You’re a talking insect” Adrien stated the obvious. ”Am I dreaming or something?”

”No, you are not. I am a Kwami, a spirit animal that grants magical powers. Mine is the power of luck and creation, which makes my chosen extremely lucky and able to create any object. My chosen can also repair the damage done to something. It works on both humans and objects, but it can't bring back someone from the dead. Nothing can recreate a lost soul. But you could repair the damage that Stoneheart has infected on the city, including healing those who got injured.”

Adrien stared baffled at the little bug, who appeared to be looking at him with patience. He couldn’t believe that this little bug could do such a thing. 

”Ok so how do you repair the city then?”

”Not me. You. I can transform you into what you call a superhero nowadays and give you all these powers.”

Adrien's face lighted up as he added up everything. ”Wait. So I could become a superhero just like Chat Noire? Is she also transformed by a ladybug? Or a beetle maybe? Ooh right, she is cat-themed. This is so awesome!”

”Yes, I can make you a superhero just like the chosen of the black cat. And no, she gets transformed by a cat, not a ladybug.”

Adrien couldn’t believe his ears. His wildest dream had come true overnight. He was about to be a superhero and fight villains! ”Ok, so I need to fight the acumas that Hawkmoth throws at the city, right?” He asked the ladybug.

”Yes, that is correct. The butterfly Kwami is in possession of Hawkmoth, who is using him for his own gain. To explain this I need to tell you the origin story of the Miraculous. Do you want to hear it?” 

”Yes” Adrien replied impatiently.

”Once upon a time, we Miraculous creatures where free creatures like any other. We lived our normal lives as animals until a wise man whose name was Fu approached us. He possessed great power and had a good heart, and asked us if we wanted to become spirit animals, witch purpose was to protect the balance of nature from evil. We said yes and the man gave each one of us unique powers. We suddenly understood greater knowledge than any man, and we could share our powers with a human too, making us much stronger together. Now we could aid others in need and fight against injustice. But the man’s brother, jealous that he had not received any powers, gathered the little magic power he had and put a curse on us. We were trapped inside a piece of jewelry and could only come out if a human wore it. We could then, only with the help of the human wearing the jewelry, use our powers. Master Fu Long searched for a way for the curse to be reversed, but when he eventually found it, many of us had disappeared off the map as the humans they chose ran away with the jewels.”

”So there are still other Kwamis out there?” Adrien asked.

”Yes, but not many. During the millenniums, most of the Miraculous jewels have been found and liberated from the curse. Some are still out there, and we Miraculous creatures have ben dividing into two groups, one that is still trying to find the remaining ones, and the other, with I am part of, are helping to defend itself from evil. The butterfly Kwami, was a part of that group until a decade ago when he went missing mysteriously. We tried looking for him but to no avail. Just until recently, when I and the black cat Kwami sensed his presence here in France for a moment, he was lost to the world. We felt that the curse had been put back on him and that he was again trapped in a Miraculous jewel, Completely unable to track or contact. Then, a few days later, Hawkmoth appeared. The black cat Kwami was closer to Paris than I was, so he arrived just in time to find a chosen and prevent a disaster. I have just arrived to aid them in their fight against Hawkmoth and if you want, you too can help.” The ladybug said. 

”And something tells me that you are more than willing to do it.” She giggled after looking at Adrien's ecstatic expression.

”You can bet on that! This must be the best first school day anyone has ever had in the history of first schooldays!” He exclaimed.

”Okay, I am so happy that you want to help! I knew you were the right person when I first saw you. I’m Tikki by the way.”

”Hello Tikki, I’m Adrien. So, what do we do first? Fight some Acumas?”

”The Acumas only appear when Hawkmoth uses his powers, so you need to be ready to fight them at any time. I think you should get yourself a name and then, we can go and repair the city. ”

”A name, You mean like Chat Noire? Okay, then I will be called….”

”Why not Beetle like you said before?”

”Yeah, that will do! From now on, the super-awesome superhero Beetle will protect everybody!” he said and struck a pose.

Tikki giggled at his performance. 

”Okay then. To transform into a superhero, you just say ’Tikki, transform me!’”

”Got it. Here we go! Tikki, Transform me!

Adrien watched as his body got covered by a red spandex suit with black dots and black boots and gloves in a flash of red light. On his waist, a red yoyo with black dots was attached with the string working like a belt. On his face, he had a polka-dotted red mask. He grinned widely as he grabbed the yoyo and opened his window to swing out of his house to repair the city's damage. 

  
——<><><><><>——

  
Marinette couldn’t believe her eyes. The Acuma was gone. The second day as a superhero, and she had already failed miserably. Had Hawkmoth been in her house? Did he know who she was as a civilian? 

”Hey, Kid, snap out of it! Wen need to catch the Acuma again before it causes total mayhem all over again!”

”Plagg, I let the acuma go! I have failed my duty as a superhero! And now Hawkmoth knows who I am! You need to pick someone….”

”LISTEN, kid. It’s my fault the acuma disappeared, okay? I forgot that the powers of the Miraculous changes if it is used with evil intentions. That’s probably why it could regenerate itself. and if Hawkmoth knew your identity, he would have captured you as soon as the Acuma set itself free. I know a way to fix this. I just hope that she’s already arrived…”

Before Marinette could ask Plagg what he meant, a roar rocked the house.

”We need to get moving! Quick kid, transform!”

”Plagg, I don’t know if I can do this….”

”Yes you can Marinette. I have full faith in you. I’ve always had. Since the first day I saw you I knew, you where the perfect chosen. You are smart, brave, and you always strive to do the right thing. If you can help in any way, you do it without regrets or second thoughts. So don’t put yourself down, You are worth much more than you think.”

Marinette inhaled and exhaled nervously. She could do this. _She could do this._ ”Plagg, transform me!” The transformation made her gain a little more confidence as she stared at herself in the mirror.

 _’All of Paris believes in you, and I do aswell’_ Plagg said to her in her mind.

She took a deep breath and climbed up to her balcony. Chat Noire looked around, trying to spot the Acuma. The next roar came from right behind her this time and she jumped away just in time before Stonehearts fist crushed her. She tried to stand up and move out of the way from her damaged house but her tail had gotten stuck by Stonehearts fist and she couldn’t move. She froze as she saw his other fist rise above his head, ready to make her a part of the roof when Plagg screamed at her in her mind, startling her out of her paralyzation.

_’Quick! Use your Cataclysm!’_

”Right! Cataclysm!”

Her right fist began to emit back particles that pulsated like a heart around her hand. She quickly touched the concrete below her and Stoneheart's fist, making it crumble instantly. She fell through just in time to see Stonehearts other fist come flying at her and dashed to the side. The fist broke through the floor and smashed Her parent's bed to bits in the room below. The screams of her parents resounded from the bottom floor where the bakery was and Chat Noire smashed through the nearest window, landing on the ground inferno of the bakery. She ran inside to save her parents from the Acuma that was continuing to smash the building into bits. She found her parents taking cover under the kitchen bench and ran up to them.

”Are you okay? You need to get out of here now!” She said to them while dragging them out of the building.

”Wait! Marinette, our daughter! She’s still inside!” Sabine realized with fear in her eyes. ”We need to save her!”

”No! Run to the nearest cellar and stay there! I will look after her, it’s too dangerous for you!” She told them in an exasperated tone. ”I promise I will bring her back safe and sound, okay?” She said with a calmer voice and a faint smile on her face. Her parents where so kind, always thinking of others' safety before themselves. She resisted the urge to hug them and tell them how moved she was that they cared so much so instead she placed her hands on their shoulders to comfort them. They sighed and looked at her with a mix of worry and relief. 

”We’re so lucky to have you in this city protecting us.” Tom said to her.

”I’m just doing my job.” Chat Noire blushed a little and looked away.

”There are not many people who would have the courage to stand up against a supervillain” Sabine told her. ”Be careful out there! We believe in you!” She said and ran away with tom to a nearby house.

Chat Noire sighed and turned her attention to the Acuma again. Stoneheart Still hadn’t noticed that she wasn’t inside anymore and had almost demolished it completely trying to find her.

She tried to think of a plan but got interrupted by the loud beep of her ring, with only had one paw print left. _’Shit, I don’t have so much time left’_ she thought. ’ _Plagg, how much energy do you think I have left in the suit to fight him?’_

_’I would say enough to at least use another small cataclysm, but that would really be stretching the borders. Since you destroyed a big and thick layer of concrete you really depleted a lot of energy. You will have more energy to use if you have more stamina, so the more you train and get stronger, the more energy you have at your disposal in the suit. So do only use Cataclysm if it’s an emergency because you will retransform shortly after. I think we need to be smart about it and think of a plan. Since I don’t fight I can try to come up with a good plan. In the meantime, keep him occupied.’_

_’Okay, Plagg. Let’s do this.’_

_’There’s the courage and determination I was talking about. Go get him, Kid!’_

Chat Noire took a deep breath to calm her nerves and propelled herself up in the air with her staff. She landed on Stoneheart's shoulder and shoved her staff right in his ear. ”I hope you didn't forget about me?” Stoneheart screamed in pain as Chat Noire jumped down and ran away from the ruins that once was her house. ”Too slow! **Cat** ch me if you can!” 

The unintended pun seemed to anger Stoneheart even more. He roared so loud that the ground shook and charged at Chat Noire. She jumped out of his way and he crashed right into the building behind her. She winced at the screams from inside and ran inside to save the people. She found a couple at the entrance that where paralyzed from fear. 

”Is there anybody left in this building?” She asked them. They shook their heads so Chat Noire picked them up and ran outside. She left them at the entrance of the house that her parents took shelter in and told them to find shelter in the cellar. She then jumped up un the roof to make sure that the Acuma was still following her and looked around for the nearest open area. She spotted the Eiffel Tower and ran in that direction. She got a deja vu feeling from the first fight with Stoneheart at the Eiffel Tower. When she arrived with Stoneheart following close behind she saw all the tourists around her looking at the Acuma and scream in panic. Shit.

”Everyone! Get out of here!” She screamed at the tourists, but they were already running for their lives. She heard a roar from behind her and saw Stoneheart jumping across the Seine, landing ten meters in front of her.

”Okay, you big brute! Let’s dance!” She shouted and charged at him. He threw a punch at her that she nearly didn’t dodge and smacked him from behind. He did not fall over like she thought and turned around to smash her. Chat Noire threw herself out of the way and landed on her back, making her lose her breath.

_’Plagg, what’s going on? Why is he so much stronger than last time?’_

_’Just like you, he gets stronger every time he gets acumatized again. Especially if it is the same Acuma. That's why you need to watch out. I have a plan now. You need to make him destroy the pillars of the Eiffel Tower and make it fall… KID WATCH OUT!’_ Plagg screamed at her. She looked up and tried to dodge, but she was a second too late. She closed her eyes as Stonehearts fists smashed her into the ground.

  
——<><><><><>——

”Don’t be bemused, it’s just the news. I’m Nadja Chamack, reporting live from the Eiffel Tower where Chat Noire is fighting Stoneheart once again. The Acuma is a lot stronger this time, she looks like she could use some help. Stoneheart seems to be very angry, and…. OOOH! Did you see that? He hulk smashed her right into the ground! Is this the end of Paris’ brave heroine? He’s lifting his fists again. No, she is still alive! But she’s in really bad shape. She really could use some help, right about now, and the army and police force is nowhere to be seen. Stoneheart is picking her up now, probably to end her for good. But what’s this? Paris, open your ears, another hero has come to the rescue! The scarlet hero is trying to save Chat Noire! There may still be some hope left for our brave heroine.”

On the other side of the park, Beetle swung his yoyo at the fist that was holding Chat Noire. He caught it and dragged it down to the ground, releasing her. He quickly ran to pick her up and swung up the Eiffel Tower. They landed on the first platform and he put her down, both breathing heavily. 

”Are you okay?” he asked in a worried tone.

”I’m fine” she replied in a strained voice. ”Thanks for saving me. But who are you? Another Miraculous user?”

”Yes, I have the Ladybug Miraculous.”

”What power do you have?” she asked.

”The short version is that it allows me to create something and to repair the damage to the city” he responded. 

”Perfect” she said, with relief in her voice. ”I’m going to need that for my plan to work. We need to make Stoneheart follow us and destroy the pillars of the Eiffel Tower when he charges. Then we need him to stand right where the tower falls so it knocks him out. When I catch the acuma, you can repair everything. But watch out, he has been acumatized again from the same acuma as last time, so he’s much stronger than the last time I fought him.”

”Sounds good. I’m Beetle By the way.”

”I suppose you already know my name, but just in case I’m Chat Noire” she said, smiling weakly at him. ”Can you check if any civilians are left In the tower? I’ll distract him in the meantime.”

”Shure thing. I’ll meet you in a minute!”

The duo parted ways and Chat Noire jumped down the Eiffel Tower. She took a fighting stance as Stoneheart prepared to charge at her again. She just had to endure this a few minutes as Beetle secured the tower. No biggie. After five minutes which for Chat Noire felt like an eternity, Beetle returned. ”No civilians left” he declared. 

”Good. Now let’s go get him.”

They ran so that they stood in between Stoneheart and one of the pillars. ”Over here, Stonebrain!” Chat Noire screamed at him and jumped to the side with Beetle when he charged at them. Just like Plagg predicted, the pillar got smashed to bits, only supporting the tower with the few metal beams that were left.

”One more, then we have him trapped!” Chat Noir shouted as she ran towards the nearest one. Beetle watched as Stoneheart got up from the impact with the tower. ”You have big muscles, but that won't get you anywhere! You can’t even keep up with us!” he mocked him. 

”You little pest! I’m going to crush you like a Bug!” Stoneheart screamed in anger and charged at him again. 

”I don’t think so” Beetle replied with a smirk and Jumped out of the way. ”Heads up Chat Noire! Here he comes!” 

Chat Noire gathered the last bits of her energy and dodged Stoneheart who crashed in the pillar. A loud rumble shook the ground, and the Eiffel Tower began to tilt. 

”Quick! We need to lure him over here!” Chat Noire shouted to Beetle. But Stoneheart did the job for them by charging at them again. Chat Noire was so tired and beat up that she didn’t register the danger in time and almost got run over by Stoneheart, but beetle threw himself to knock Chat Noire out go the way, landing and rolling around a few times before they finally stopped. Stoneheart, who was dazed from the impacts with the Eiffel towers pillars didn’t notice anything until he realized that the two heroes were nowhere to be found and stopped. He heard a strange noise of twisting metal and looked up in confusion to see an enormous shadow approaching fast. The Eiffel tower crashed into the ground crushing Stoneheart and sending metal bits flying everywhere. Beetle hugged Chat Noire to protect her from the hail of metal splinters until everything went silent and the only thing that could be heard was their heavy breaths.

He got up to apologize but Chat Noire hushed him with a grateful smile on her bruised face. Beetle helped her up and she approached the spot where the Acuma stood seconds before. She saw a black butterfly fluttering away and snatched it from the air, walking over to Beetle.

”Done. Now you can repair everything.”

He stared at her for a brief moment, forgetting what he was supposed to do.

”Right” he said and swung his yoyo in the air. It started spewing out a big swarm of little red Ladybugs. They swirled around in every place where the Acuma had damaged the city, including Chat Noire and Beetle. Chat Noire sighed in relief as she felt every bruise on her body got healed by the Ladybug swarm. She looked as the Eiffel Tower bent back to its original state and its pillars got repaired. When everything was fixed again, the ladybugs returned to Beetles yoyo, entering it again.

”Thanks for saving me” Chat Noire said with a flustered look. ”I would have been dead for sure if you hadn’t come to rescue me.” She took a closed look at him now that the fighting was over and took in the sight. The suit made wonders with his figure, accenting his muscles and really left nothing to the imagination. She admired his figure until she saw that he noticed her staring. She blushed and reached out with her fist in a desperate attempt to hide it. He bumped her fist saying ”No problem, my lady. I’ll be happy to save you from danger anytime. Just call” making her blush even more. 

”W-we should check on the victim” she said to Beetle. _’Why am I stuttering now of all times?’_ She thought

”Good idea” Beetle replied. ”But first, I may have a solution to the acuma problem. From what I understood, you didn’t manage to destroy the Acuma last time, right?”

”No, I destroyed it, but it regenerated somehow. My Kwami says it’s because the Miraculous has been used with evil intent, with changes its powers.”

”Okay. My Kwami told me I can also purify things from evil with my yoyo, aside from using my other powers. I can try to relinquish this Acuma from the evil inside.”

”Sounds good” she replied and gave him the struggling Acuma. He opened his yoyo making it glow, and touched the acuma with got sucked inside. Then it fluttered out of the yoyo, now completely white. They looked at the white butterfly as it flew away and then went to check up on Ivan who was sitting on the ground with slumped shoulders for the second day in a row. 

”Hey, are you okay?” Chat Noire asked him gently.

”Not really” he replied with a sad voice. ”I couldn’t handle my feelings and got Acumatized again. Now even more people will avoid me and call me a monster.”

”Ivan, it’s not your fault that you feel the way you feel. Everyone feels anger and sadness from time to time. What matters is that you know how to control them instead of them controlling you. And don’t be afraid to ask for help. Now, what made you feel this way? You don’t need to tell me, just go home and think on it for a while. I’m sure that you will find a solution. And if you can’t do it alone, ask a friend to help you.”

”Thanks, Chat Noire” He said smiling at her.

”Do you need a ride home?” she asked him.

”No, I can walk. I need some time to think.”

She smiled as she looked at Ivan walking away. ”You are fantastic at pep-talks, you know that?” Beetle told her. 

She blushed again and waved it off. ”I'm just doing my job.”

”Well, I’m not sure I know anyone who would have the guts to do the job you’re doing.”

”Well, you too. You have the same job after all” she smiled nervously at him. Just what was with her today? Why was it so hard to talk to this guy?

At that point, the flock of reports that had fled the scene when the Eiffel Tower fell was returning and coming straight to them. Beetle looked at Chat Noire, who was looking at the reporters with a tired look. It seemed like she was used to them already. He had been used to them ever since he was a child, being an Agreste and modeling for his father's brand.

”Chat Noire, what do you have to say about the fight today?”

”Who is your new partner? Is he a superhero like you? Will he be protecting the city from now on?

Chat Noire held up a hand to silence them and spoke.

”This was another attack by Hawkmoth, using the same innocent civilian to do his bidding. It got a bit rough but fortunately, I got help from Beetle over here, who is also a Miraculous user. The civilian was used against his will by Hawkmoth, all because he had had a really bad day. Paris, do you want to know why he had a bad day? Because everyone around him was calling him a monster and avoiding him. You, people of Paris, caused this Acuma. There will be more Acuma-victims by Hawkmoth since he seems to stop at nothing. So please, be a little more understanding about the nightmare that they where forced to take a part in. That's all I have to say.”

The reporters started to bombard them with questions again but Chat Noire ignored them and spoke to Beetle. ”You can stay here and introduce yourself. I need to find a place to retransform and recover my energy.” 

He nodded. She looked really tired from the fight and he remembered that she had been hulk-smashed into the ground. ”I’ll take over here, you go rest.”

”Thanks. Let's meet at the top of the Eiffel Tower later. What do you think about meeting at around nine o’clock?”

”Sounds good.”

”Okay. Catch you later then!” she winked and blushed a little before jumping away, disappearing over the rooftops.

  
——<><><><><>——

  
As the clock struck five minutes before nine, Beetle swung up the Eiffel Tower and landed at the top, a few steps behind Chat Noire. She turned around and he saw her face lit up with a smile.

”Hi! I’m so happy you came!”

”Well of course I came, when a dashing lady asks me to show up at a date I always come.” He said and winked, making her as red as his suit. ”Jokes aside, I’m glad we could meet. Our first meeting was a bit messy, with all the chaos Hawkmoth threw at us.”

”Y-Yeah, I was pretty beaten up by the Acuma. T-thanks again for saving me” she stuttered.

”No problem, I bet my miraculous that you would have done the same if we swapped places.” Beetle said, ignoring Tikki’s angry buzzing in his mind bout even trying to lose her in a bet.

She smiled and Beetle was happy to see that she was loosening up a little. He sat down at the edge of the platform and gestured for her to join him. She sat down, facing him instead of the edge and studied him with an unreadable expression. 

”So, I thought we should get to know a little more about each other and our powers since we will be working together from now on. Just one rule. We don’t talk about our lives as civilians” she said. ”We can never know each other's identity, that could risk us revealing it if one of us end up being captured. What we don’t know cannot be brought out by force.”

”I can stand behind that” Beetle agreed. ”So, do you want to start?”

”Okay. I’m Chat Noire, the user of the Black cat miraculous. My Kwami gives me the power destruction, meaning I can destroy everything I touch after using my ability. I can destroy practically everything according to my kwami, except for the miraculous jewels. What and how much I can destroy depends on the material, for example, I destroyed a thick concrete roof at the beginning of the fight, and it drained almost all of my energy. But as we get stronger we can use more energy, I presume your kwami told you that. I also have better eyesight as well as excellent night vision, a very good sense of smell and the ability to climb on things with my claws. I also have the basic powers every miraculous get, superhuman agility, strength, and reflexes. I fight with my staff that I can extend and retract at will. And I can apparently move my tail” She added in surprise after wiggling her tail by accident. 

Beetle giggled a little at her reaction and cleared his throat. ”I’m Beetle as you know by now, the user of the ladybug Miraculous. I have the power of creation, which allows me to create any object. I can also heal any damage to objects and people's injuries, no matter how bad they are. My Kwami says that there isn’t a limitation as far as she knows. Apparently a previous user brought back an entire city after it being leveled with the ground” he said after a short pause after listening to his Kwami, with an amused look.

”But it also drains my energy massively, so it’s best if I use it at the end of a fight. Anyways, I also give good luck to my allies in battle and I think my suit also can heal minor wounds on my body. I have enhanced agility and strength and all that and I stick to any surface I place my hands and feet on at will like a bug. I can also purify things from evil with my yoyo. Speaking of which, I use it to fight and can do some petty cool stuff with it. Look!” he said and threw it at a radio mast. It wrapped itself around the metal. ”I can control it just by thinking about what I want it to do. Isn’t it cool?” He exclaimed, excited. 

Chat Noire giggled at his expression and nodded. He continued throwing it at every protruding thing he could find while continuing to explain it’s awesomeness, making her erupt into laughter. He smiled sheepishly at her and put it back around his waist. 

”I have a feeling we will make a pretty **paw** some team” she said to him once she stopped laughing at him. ”That is if a **cat** astrophe doesn’t happen or we let the cat out of the bag by accident.”

”Good one! I am **purr** sitivetly a **meow** zed by your punning skills” he said, making her laugh again. 

Sliding his yoyo open and looking at the screen, he got up and stretched his limbs. ”I’m sorry, I gotta split. Need to get my beauty sleep for tomorrow.”

”Yeah, it’s getting a bit late. See you the next time Hawkmoth Acumatizes some poor soul again!” She said to him. 

He waved and walked off the edge of the platform for dramatic effect, and then swung away in the night. Chat Noire sighed and looked out over the city. It looked really beautiful from up here, with all the lights on.

 _’Someone’s in love’_ Plagg said to her in her mind making Chat Noire blush hard.

 _'No I'm not!'_ She tried to defend herself, blushing even more.

_'Okay kid, whatever you are about to say, just know that I am in your head and can hear your thought loud and clear.'_

_'Hey! Give me some privacy!’_ she thought to him.

 _'Just saying'_ Plagg mentally shrugged his shoulders. _'But you should know that you can talk with me about your problems kid. I'll be sticking around in your head whether you like it or not so it’s best if you get used to it.’_

 _'Okay, so he may be just a tiny bit attractive with that suit on'_ Chat Noir admitted I defeat. ’ _But I’m not in love! I don’t stutter when I’m near him and think of him all the time.’_

 _’You thought of him the whole evening when we got home, and are you absolutely sure you didn't stutter?’_ Plagg countered.

_’Just shut up, Plagg. I’m NOT in love. I’m not the person who falls for someone at first sight. I don’t even know him!’_

_’You keep telling yourself that, kid.’_

_’Uuuugh, is there a way to lock you out of my thoughts?’_

_’Nope. As I said you’re stuck with me’_ Plagg said with an amused voice.

_’Okay then, no camembert for you when we get home if you continue teasing.’_

_’I shall not utter a single word, kind lady.’_

Chat Noire chuckled. _’Thought so. Let’s go home.’_ She got up and extended her staff to the ground and descended gracefully. Some tourists stopped to take pictures as she propelled herself to the nearest rooftop with her staff. She smiled. They had become pretty well known by now. She wouldn’t be surprised if people from all the world would start to come here, just to get a glimpse of Paris’ superheroes.

——<><><><><>——

Hawkmoth was furious. The Acuma had come to life and began looking for its victim again, just as he went to a business meeting. He would have missed the acuma entirely if it weren't for the tv in the office. He needed to keep a closer watch on his Acumas from now on. He stood in his lair, contemplating the events of the day. The ladybug Miraculous had come to the rescue just as he was about to capture that damn Chat Noire. No matter, it didn’t change the plan. He would just have to squash another annoying bug. ”Watch yourselves, Beetle and Chat Noire. I am far from being done with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go. I am publishing this as the very last thing before sleeping, just finished proofreading it. With holidays coming up after my exams, I can finally relax a little and hopefully write more, because right now my schedule is just nuts.


	3. A Tricky Situation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, another chapter out. I know I'm veeeery late, but life happened. Also, I mainly write this for myself when I have the time and will, so slow updates are going to be a thing. I have a very rough idea for chapter four, but since I procrastinated Ch 3 for half a year I don't know when it's coming out. Before 2021? Also thank you for reading my fanfic, and I hope you all don't hate me for posting so irregularly (and procrastinating). Have a nice day/evening/whatever ヾ(｡･ω･｡)

”Hey, this is not official media coverage. They didn’t get this close. Where did you get this footage?”

”Did you see that? He’s about to run over Chat Noire!”

”No, look! Here comes Beetle to save her. This is so cool! The media didn’t show any of this! Where in the world did you get it?”

”Of course they didn’t! I filmed this myself!”

The entire class minus Chloe and Sabrina were gathered in a circle around Alya, watching a video on her phone as Marinette arrived a minute before the class started. She frowned, a bit confused at the gathering preventing her from reaching her desk, and slipped between Nino and Kim to see what everyone was so excited about. She stared at the screen, not expecting to see herself fighting against Stoneheart. Wow, she really took a beating yesterday. She winced as the video played again, showing her getting smashed into the ground by Stoneheart. Her train of thought got interrupted by Alya, bragging about how close she’d gotten to the fight to get the footage. 

”You’re so brave Alya, I would never have the courage to stop and run in the opposite direction when a crazy villain is rampaging in the city!” Rose said. 

”I, for a change, think that it was really stupid. You could’ve gotten killed!” Marinette said, shivering at the thought of Alya getting crushed by the Eiffel Tower.

”Come on, girl! You have to admit that this is cool” the redhead rebutted. ”This is exclusive footage. You never would have seen it otherwise, and you have to admit that it’s not every day you get to see a hero in action from up close!”

’Ha! The irony in that sentence.’ Marinette thought. She had been much more up close and personal than she preferred, but Alya didn’t know that of course. No-one knew. Miss Bustier walked in telling everyone to settle down, ending the argument. After the lesson that seemed to drag out longer than usual, they had a short break in which everyone gathered to discuss the fight again. Marinette spaced out having already had enough of acumas for the rest of the week. Her gaze floated over to Adrien, who sat a little distance away from the group. ’He looks really tired’ she thought. Marinette got up from her chair and walked over to him.

”What’s up? You look like you could use a nap.” She said to Adrien, startling him from his half-asleep state.

”H-Hi! Yeah, I’m totally worn out. Had to wake at 5 am for a photoshoot” 

”Wow, that's rough. Haven’t gotten so much sleep myself either” she said, suppressing a yawn. ”Have you seen the video Alya took?”

”Y-Yeah, it’s dangerous running around so close to the fight, she shouldn’t do it.”

”Exactly what I thought. I hope that I can reason with her to make her stop” she said, shaking her head.

  
——<><><><><>——

  
The following month, Marinette tried to persuade Alya not to run around so close to the fights. She refused to listen and disappeared from class every time an acuma attacked Paris. Worst of all, Marinette couldn’t even go with her to keep an eye on her. She had her hands full with fighting the acuma with Beetle. More than once they had been interrupted in the middle of the fight by Alya. Marinette had tried a million times to make her stop, but as she learned the hard way, Alya was a force of nature and she stopped at nothing to get what she wanted.

The first week she started a blog called The Miraculous Blog where she posted footage of every fight with live commentary and articles about the heroes. It had exploded immediately and she already had over 1000 followers on the blog's Instagram account and the blogs e-mail address overflowing with requests and ideas for the next article and pictures of the heroes for the blog. At that point, Marinette thought that she would stop following the acuma fights with the sheer amount of footage she got from other people, but on the contrary, it only made her friend even more determined to get the fight captured to her phone’s memory. They where discussing the matter for the umpteenth time in class one morning and Marinette was getting desperate.

”Girl, you know you can’t stop me.”

”Yes, I know, that is precisely what’s the problem! You’re going to get yourself killed!”

”Ok, that's a bit exaggerated. Chat Noire and beetle would never let the acuma hurt me.”

Marinette sighed in frustration. Why did she have to be so stubborn? She was about to start arguing again when Alya got a notification on her phone. Marinette’s heart sunk. Another acuma? They fought one Yesterday! 

”Alya please, sit this one out.”

”Not in my wildest dreams girl. I could never miss any opportunity to watch Paris’ charming heroes. I’m sorry girl, but you can’t stop me.”

A rumble shook the building, making everything tremble. Crap, she had to catch that acuma before it wrecked the city. The school shook again from another rumble, this time almost all the students' schoolbooks and pencil holders tumbled to the ground. Her classmates looked at each other with worried looks and scrambled to get their things and get out. 

Marinette heard screams from the street and ran towards the window, but at the last second, she saw a red blur coming directly at her. A fraction of a moment later Beetle crashed through the window, knocking her to the floor. Oww... that really hurt. She got up and ran over to Beetle to check on him but he looked up behind her and tackled her to the ground with his body. Something zipped past over their heads and exploded in the wall on the other side. The last of her classmates screamed and ran out of the classroom.

”Are you okay?” Beetle asked her while getting up from the ground. He looked at her with his impossibly green eyes filled with worry for her and Marinette’s brain melted on the spot.

She couldn’t speak a word, her tongue stuck in her throat, her mind racing from the feeling of Beetles body pressed against hers from moments before. She blushed. Marinette had gotten saved by Beetle as Chat Noire several times now, but with all the adrenaline pumping in her system because of the fight, she never registered it as something intimate. Beetle was so caring and strong, he was so amazing… had he gotten more muscular recently? Oh god, now was really not the time for such thoughts. She managed to blurt out a yes to Beetle's question and got up. Beetle looked at the wall behind them that now had a big gaping hole in it.

”I’m going to make him pay for this” he mumbled, just loud enough for Marinette to hear, then jumped out of the smashed window he came from. Marinette awoke from her daze and remembered that she had to find a place where she could transform. She quickly looked around herself to see if anyone of her classmates was hurt. To her shock and horror, she saw Ivan and Nino almost buried by the rubble from the blast. She heard a loud meow from behind and turned around, relieved.

”There’s no-one here,” he said.

”Good. Plagg, transform me!” she replied. 

She smiled at the warm feeling that spread through her limbs as Plagg dissolved into a black mist and enveloped her body in a blue flash of light, taking her mind away from the horrible scene before her for just a moment. 

Chat Noire quickly commenced to dig out Ivan and Nino from the rubble. She dug furiously until she could drag out their two unconscious bodies. She put one on each shoulder and jumped down to the paramedics that had just arrived outside. The police were struggling to put up a border to keep out all the excited people who wanted to catch a glimpse of the two heroes. 

”I found these two unconscious under a pile of rubble from a bomb blast,” she said as she handed them over to the paramedics. She heard a gasp from behind her and saw Alya’s face in shock at the sight of her friends. 

”Chat Noire! Chat Noire! What happened to those two boys?” she heard Alya asked her over the chaos around them. 

”Their classroom was hit by a bomb from the acuma. I still don’t know where the rest of them are” she replied, feeling pity for her worried friend.

”They’re safe. They are in the same class as me and we ran out together.”

”Good, thank you” Chat Noire said to her before she jumped up to the roof of the school by extending her staff. She spotted (pun intended) Beetle fighting with the acuma a few housetops away and ran over to join him in the fight. 

”Hello my lady” he said when she came in sight, stirring up the butterflies in her stomach again. He threw his yoyo hard at the acuma, knocking it down to the street. They hid behind a chimney to talk while the acuma reoriented itself and came after them again. Chat Noire threw a quick look at the acuma while it tumbled towards the ground. It looked like a French soldier from the eighteenth century, wearing a blue coat with a red collar and cuffs, a tall, black, furry hat and a white undershirt, pants, and boots. He had a musket slung over his shoulder and held a grenade in his hand.

”Okay, so this one is called Grenadier and he throws grenades all over the place. I have no clue where the acuma could be and it’s not in his musket, he dropped it before and didn’t care” Beetle said with a discouraged look on his face. 

”He seems to pull them out from thin air” Chat Noire noted.

”Yeah, if only we could stop him from exploding literally everything in sight we could take him on easily” Beetle replied.

”Okay then, I distract him, you figure out where he keeps his bombs” Chat Noire said.

They nodded at each other and jumped out from behind the chimney to set their plan in action. Chat Noire ran to face the acuma, hitting it with her staff and throwing insults about the Napoleonic war and the French Revolution while Beetle jumped up on a rooftop higher up to perform ranged attacks from above. They had established some unspoken tactics during the three weeks of fighting, with Beetles miraculous being more suited to long-range fighting and having to save all the energy he could to repair all the damage to the city, his role was to act more like a ranged support fighter. He was often flanking and attacking when he saw an opening to distract the acuma. Chat Noire was the punching bag. Her task, being better suited for close-quarters fighting, was to face off with the acuma and drag the acumas attention from Beetle. 

Their strategy had worked flawlessly so far, and today was no exception. Chat Noire struck a blow to Grenadier’s leg, making him tumble to the ground. He got up and threw a grenade in her direction that she dodged by jumping backward and charged at him. Beetles yoyo hit the acumas back, making him fall on his knees. Chat Noire reached him and moments before she was going to strike, she changed the direction of her staff and hit him right in the face. He tumbled away like a rag on the rooftop, stopping a few meters away, not showing any signs of movement. ’Wow, did I just knock him out?’ She thought.

Beetle took the opportunity and jumped down to restrain the acuma, but when he landed the acuma twitted and grabbed his leg, throwing him into the air and blasting him with a grenade, the shockwave propelling Beetle into the building on the other side of the road.

”Beetle!” Chat Noire screamed and jumped down on the street to run up to him. ”Are you okay?” she asked with worry in her voice, her hands flying around on his body, checking that he was okay. Too late, she realized what she was doing and blushed, stepping away from him and giving him a hand.

”Not particularly” he groaned.

”Okay, stay out of the fight for a bit, I can handle him for a while” she said, helping him to stand up. She blushed even more as he grabbed on to her shoulders for more support, pressing his body to hers for a moment. She tried to ignore her burning face and looked around to find no sign of the acuma, who had apparently decided that the hit from her had been a little bit too close for comfort and that running away from the heroes a while to regroup was a better idea. She hated it when the fights dragged out like this, it was so frustrating and time-consuming, slowly wearing the heroes out. On the other hand, she had a chance to talk a little with Beetle without a pesky acuma around for a chance.

”Chat Noire! Is Beetle hurt?” Alya’s voice reached them. They both sighed simultaneously and looked around to see the young girl running in heir direction.

”No it’s just a scratch, I’ll be fine!” he said, putting on a mask of ease for the reporter. 

”You should go off and detransform” Chat Noire whispered to him out of the corner of her mouth. ”Meet me in half an hour at the Eiffel Tower.” He gave her a thankful look and jumped off, leaving her alone with Alya. She looked after him with a worried look but shook the thoughts of Beetle from her head. He would be fine.

”Where is Beetle going?” Alya asked Chat Noire.

”He is looking for the acuma” She lied. ”I need to do the same, so I don’t have much time.”

”Okay, so how is the fight going? Have you found the acumatized object yet?”

”No, but I think we are getting close” Chat Noire said as more reporters and news channels where gathering around her. She took a deep breath. ”Grenadier isn’t especially difficult to face, but he’s very resilient and he is destroying everything around him. We don’t like to drag out fights with destructive acumas, since they endanger a lot of civilians, but this one is inevitable. We ask for the people of Paris to remain patient, this will hopefully be over soon.”

She excused herself and jumped up on the building that Beetle crashed into a few minutes ago with her staff. She looked around in search of the acuma and jumped away on the rooftops, avoiding the buildings that the acuma had damaged.

’Great speech, kid! I almost fell asleep in the middle of it.’

’Thanks, Plagg’ she huffed in her thoughts. She knew that the Kwami was teasing with her but she couldn’t help to feel a little discouraged. She had practiced many long nights at things to say to the press. It turns out that the super awesome superhero Chat Noire, who threw herself headfirst into the acuma fight without hesitation, was a little nervous when talking to the press. Okay, a little was an understatement. She got VERY nervous. It was fine when she was filled with adrenaline like now, but calm press conferences outside of fights, she was a nervous wreck. It wasn’t as bad as talking with Beetle, but it was still difficult. How was she going to be a strong figure of protection for the people of Paris if she couldn’t even talk to them without stuttering? 

’Kid, you need to stop doubting yourself. You’re still new to this. These sorts of things don’t come naturally, you’ll learn it over time.’

’But why does it have to be so difficult? Beetle acts like it doesn’t even bother him! Aargh! Why does he have to bee so perfect all the time?’

’I bet you ten Cammenbert tubes that he’s far from perfect in reality’ Plagg replied.

’You seem awfully sure’ Chat Noire snorted. ’And I don’t even want your cheese’ she added.

’Okay then, if I’m wrong I’ll promise to stop leaving cheese wrappings everywhere and not steal any cheese for a whole year.’

’Whoah, you’re being really serious’ she teased.

’Hey, I’m not that bad!’ Plagg huffed.

’Actually you are’ she snorted. ’I’ll never forgive you for when you left a Cammenbert wrapping in my purse. It smelled of stinky cheese for a week. A week.’ 

’I said I was sorry’ Plagg defended himself.

’Shut up before I decide to change your dinner to canned tuna’

’You wouldn’t’ Plagg said in played indignation. ’I would rather die than eat that disgusting, soggy, oily disgrace you call fish.’

’Too bad for Beetle then, he’ll need to fight the acuma all alone’ Chat Noire said, laughing. 

  
——<><><><><>——

  
After half an hour, Adrien transformed into Beetle and went towards the Eiffel Tower. He swung his way up the tower and landed on the plateau above the observation deck the heroes had elected to be their spot, where they met after patrols to talk and keep each other company. She sat on the border with her legs dangling off the edge, apparently laughing at something her Kwami said. 

”Hello my lady, any luck with the acuma?” he said, sitting down beside her. She jumped a little when he talked, apparently, she had been too distracted to notice him.

”N-no, no trace of he acuma, he must be hiding away somewhere.” She looked out on the city witch Beetle had repaired before detransforming. ”I told the press that the fight wasn’t over yet and that the people should stay inside for the time being. I hope Hawkmoth doesn’t drag this out, I really could need some time off” she said and sighed.

”Well, Hawkmoth has never been a very patient guy, so we’ll probably be seeing from him soon” Beetle reasoned. ”In the meantime, we can relax and spend some time together for a chance.”

Chat didn’t respond, but laid down on her back and looked up in the sky. Beetle thought that he saw her blushing a little, but his thoughts were interrupted by her speaking up. ”How is it that you can be so calm when in front of the press?” Chat Noire said. ”I mean, every time I have to announce something or talk for an interview, I freak out” she quickly explained.

”Well, as a civilian I’m used to a lot of cameras, so it doesn’t really bother me. A good tip that I know some people use is to talk to everyone like they are your friends. It becomes much easier if you can joke around and have a good time, I promise.”

’He’s famous?’ Chat Noire couldn’t help but think. ’That's why he’s always so perfect…’ 

”I’m flattered my lady, but I’m far from perfect” Beetle said.

’OH SHIT, did I say that out loud?’ Chat thought.

”You may think I’m perfect, but I’m not” Beetle continued with a bittersweet smile on his face. ”I am a normal person and just like you I have my fears and insecurities, but that doesn’t stop me from doing the right thing. You are amazing my lady, you save the city every day without thinking twice about it. You are a hero to the people because even if you are scared or injured you fight on to save the people of Paris. ”

’That's what I've have been trying to tell her all this time, but she won't listen to me.’

”Wait, who are you?” Beetle asked, startled by the new voice. 

’I’m Plagg, Chat Noire’s kwami’ Plagg responded.

”Wait what, Plagg how can you talk with Beetle?” Chat Noire asked.

’I can talk to you in your mind, so why wouldn't I be able to talk to him in his mind?’

”Fair enough. But why didn't you tell me this earlier?”

’It wasn't important at the time.’

”Wait, so how much have you neglected to tell me?!” she asked indignantly. 

Plagg ignored her question and continued. ’It’s nice to finally meet you ”in person”, Beetle.’

”It’s nice to meet you too. Well then Tikki, shouldn’t you also introduce yourself?”

’Of course! Hello Chat Noire, my name is Tikki and I’m the ladybug Kwami.’

”Hello Tikki, it’s nice to meet you too!” Chat Noire said and smiled. 

”Chat Noire! Beetle! Can I get an interview?” a voice that both of the heroes instantly recognized shouted from the observation deck.

”Hi, Alya wasn’t it? We’ll give you an exclusive interview, come up here” Chat Noire shouted back at the girl.

”Omg she remembered my name!” They heard her squeal to herself. ”But how do I get up there?”

”Beetle, could me a favor and pull this charming reporter up here?”

”Of course, my lady” he smiled at her, making her blush. He pulled out his yoyo and threw it so it wrapped around Alya's waist and pulled her up. She thanked him and sat down beside the two heroes with her legs dangling off the edge and looked out over the city. ”Wow, what a stunning view.”

”Yeah, it’s the reason we come here. It’s very relaxing to just sit here after an acuma fight.”

”That I can totally understand” Alya said. ”I don’t want to sound like a stalker, but I heard you where talking with someone when I got up here. Who was that, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Chat Noire and Beetle looked at each other for a split second before nodding slightly. ”We were talking to our Kwamis, the magical creatures that give us and Hawkmoth our powers” Beetle said.

”Ooh, so how does it work? Do you say alakazam and you become two superheroes?”

”Almost, we say our Kwamis name and ’transform me’ to put on our suit, so for example, to transform I would say ’Tikki, transform me’.”

”Aha okay. And what’s your Kwamis name?”

”His name is Plagg.”

”So, you have two magical creatures with you that transform you, I presume looking like a ladybug and a black cat?”

”Yes, correct, although they are not with us all the time. Plagg goes exploring and looking for acumas most of the time.”

”Wow, so cool! How did you meet them? Did you just find them by chance, or have they been with you for a long time?”

”I met Plagg the first day Hawkmoth attacked, and he told me that he had chosen me to become a superhero and stop the acuma that was destroying the city. It was a very hasty first encounter because I was actually about to get crushed by a crumbling building, so I had to learn a lot on the fly.”

”Whoa, that's way more interesting than when I met my Kwami” Beetle exclaimed. ”She just followed me home the day after the first attack and explained why I was chosen.”

”You keep saying that they chose you, what does that mean?”

”Exactly what it implies. Our Kwamis found us two to be suitable miraculous wielders” Chat Noire responded.

”So technically, anyone could be chosen to be a miraculous wielder?”

”Theoretically yes, I suppose” Beetle reasoned. ”Though you have to have the will and drive of defending the city against Hawkmoth with your life. It may seem awesome, but it comes with loads of responsibility and complications.”

”Which makes me wonder, how did Hawkmoth get a Kwami?”

”We don’t actually know for sure, but our Kwamis think that he imprisoned the butterfly Kwami inside a jewel with a curse, so that he can control it. It’s an old curse that should have been broken long ago, but somehow Hawkmoth figured out a way to activate it again.”

”So he’s using the Kwami against its will to do what?”

”We don’t really know, other than that he wants our miraculous jewels. They are the things that contain our kwamis when we are transformed, and would trap our Kwamis inside if we removed them.”

Alya and the two heroes continued to talk for the rest of the afternoon since Hawkmoth apparently had decided not to show. They had attracted a crowd of excited tourists on the observation deck that quickly escalated to a big gathering of people below the Eiffel Tower as word spread. More and more came in the hope to catch a glimpse of the two heroes. Alya was streaming live on the Miraculous blog, and the viewer count had exploded rapidly. The afternoon passed quickly, and before they realized it, it was almost sundown. At last, Chat Noire’s Miraculous beeped, signaling that it was time to go home. 

They said goodbye to the crowd and warned everybody that an attack from Hawkmoth could come at any time. They helped Alya to get down to the platform again and took off. They landed on a roof out of view from the street and buildings around them to discuss the situation.

”I don’t like this at all” Chat Noire said with worry. ”Hawkmoth is definitely planning something, something bad”

”You don’t need to worry, Chaton” Beetle said calmly. ”When he’s done hiding he’ll show. We’ll always have the opportunity of knowing where and what the acuma is beforehand and get an idea of what we’re fighting. It’ll be bad, but at least we will be ready to face it knowing that we still have the jump on whatever he throws our way.”

”You always know what to do, do you?” Chat sighed, smiling.

”That's only because I know that my ameowsing partner always has my back and supports my decisions.”

”Oh stop it with your flattering” Chat Noire said and blushed. ”You know I would be worthless without your help.”

”Actually, that's not true. See, you have defeated an acuma all by yourself, so I would say you’re purrtty clawsome.”

”Can you stop bugging me with your puns already?”

”I’m sorry my lady, am I not amewsing enough?”

Chat Noire sighed in defeat. ”Go home and sleep Beetle, you’ll need it.”

”I’ll see you tomorrow, my lady” he said and jumped off. She watched him disappearing in the distance and sighed. ”Just why do I love that dork?”

’Probably because he is, quoting a certain girl named Marinette, ”ridiculously handsome, kind, thoughtful and perfect in every w…”.’ 

”Oh shut up, Plagg. I really will give you canned tuna if you continue.”

  
——<><><><><>——

  
The next day Marinette woke up and when to school a usual. Of course, Alya had gotten even more attention after spending an entire afternoon with Paris’ heroes, but Marinette didn’t mind, since she hadn’t put herself in danger this time. Almost a whole day had passed since the acuma had disappeared, and Marinette was beginning to wonder where it had gone. It was a really strange behavior from Hawkmoths part, and she was beginning to think that Hawkmoth had given up, seeing how fast they would have put the acuma down. 

The morning lessons dragged on slowly until finally, the bell rang to signal that It was time for lunch break. Marinette got food while chatting with Nathaniel and Ivan and they sat down at a free table. Meanwhile, a few tables away Alya and Nino where trying to get Adrien's morale up a bit. 

”Why do I have to blush, stutter, and act like an idiot whenever Marinette is around?” Adrien said and blushed. ” It's so frustrating. She must think that I’m a stupid rich kid that can’t even interact with people properly.”

”Come on dude, you know Mari isn’t like that. She probably thinks you’re cute when you’re acting that way.”

”Yeah Adrien, Nino’s right. Just hang out with her after school and get to know her better. Then when you ask her on a date I promise you that she will say yes.”

Adrien sighed. During the first month of school, his feelings for Marinette had escalated to a full-blown crush that he had no idea how to handle. Having been raised without any real interactions with other people of his age, he had not understood at first that this was completely normal for a teenager and thought that he was being creepy. Alya had quickly picked up on Adrien's behavior and was trying to get him to make a move. 

”But what if she doesn’t like me back, Alya? What if I screw up and make a fool of myself? She would never want to be around me anymore.”

”Adrien, you are overthinking things. The worst that could happen is that you get rejected. She will still be your friend, you know?”

”She’s right dude. You have nothing to lose.”

Adrien sighed. ”What should I even say? ’Hi, how’s your day going? Oh, by the way, I like you. Would you go on a date with me?’” he said sarcastically.

The three teens jumped at the sudden scream from behind them. ”Adrikins!!! What is this I’m hearing?”

”This is none of your business, Chloe” Alya said, speaking Chloe’s name like it was something from the sewers. ”Stay away.”

”How can you like someone else, Adrikins?” Chloe continued, ignoring Alya completely. ”You shouldn’t bother with these losers, you can be with me instead. I like you much more than any of them could ever do!”

”Chloe, first of all, that was really mean. Secondly, you can’t decide who I like and don’t like. In fact, I’m not sure I want to be your friend anymore. I’ve told you countless times to stop being mean to the people I care about, but you never listen. Until you are more kind towards everyone, I’ll stop being your friend.”

Chloe swallowed and opened her mouth to argue, but no words came out. She opened and closed her mouth a couple more times like a fish out of water before turning around and storming out. Adrien thought that he saw some tears in Chloe's eyes, but he wasn’t sure. After all, Chloe Bourgeois never cried if it wasn’t to get something from someone.

”Wow, you really put her in her place.”

Adrien nodded and sighed. Even if she wasn’t perfect, he enjoyed hanging out with Chloe. They had been friends since kindergarten, so he was really sad at being so rude to her, but it was needed. He was the only person she ever listened to.

”What happened?” Marinette’s worried tone startled Adrien back to reality, making him nervous and jittery. 

”Chloe was putting her nose in stuff that wasn’t her business, and Adrien told her to stay away from him if she didn’t stop being mean to everyone” Nino said.

”Finally that chick gets a reality check” Marinette huffed.

”That I think we all can agree on” Alya snorted.

After lunch, the group went on a walk in the city to kill time. Marinette wanted ice cream, so they stopped by André Glacier’s ice cream stand to buy some. They were in the middle of an argument on which flavor to pick when an infuriated scream echoed around the buildings.

”ADRIKIIIIINS! WHERE ARE YOU?”

The teen’s faces immediately went white.

”Did Chloe get acumatized?” Marinette asked the question they all already knew the answer to.

”She is going to kill us! Run!” Alya shouted and they all started running away from the acuma. 

”ADRIKINS! THERE YOU ARE!” Chloe's voice came from behind them. She was sporting a white and turquoise armor with a turquoise shield painted in her front and back. In her hands, she held a turquoise double-edged sword with white cross guard and handle and a big turquoise shield with white boarders. She jumped and landed right beside Adrien, picked him up, and took off.

”Adrien!” Alya, Nino, and Marinette screamed. ”We’ve got to go after them!” Alya exclaimed, grabbed Nino, and took off in the direction the acuma went. 

”I’ll go get help!” Marinette shouted to her friends and ran into a nearby alley to transform.

”Looks like your friend got himself in a sticky situation, huh?” Plagg said and jumped down from the roof he was standing on.

Marinette ignored her Kwami and shouted ”Plagg, transform me!”, then she jumped up on the rooftops to give chase to Chloe and Adrien. She found them near the Louvre, where Chloe had made a prison of lampposts that had been ripped out of the ground. Despite the circumstances, Adrien didn’t show any sign of being scared, he was trying to get Chloe to stop and reason (a task that had become even more impossible now that she was acumatized).

”Chloe, I promise that we can be friends again if you stop this now!”

”For the last time I’m not Chloe, I’m Jeanne D’arc the guarding saint and I won’t be stopping anytime soon! Not until I have this city under my control and Chat Noire and Beetle are defeated! I won’t even stop then. I need these powers to keep you safe, my lovely Adrikins!

Chat Noire dropped down behind Jeanne D’arc that continued to ramble about how she would protect Adrien and threw a kick at her backside. She tumbled forward and smashed into Adrien’s cage, with luckily held.

”How could you possibly protect this boy if you can’t even stand straight?” Chat Noire teased her while she was getting up.

”You! You won’t be laughing after I’m done with you! I’ll take your miraculous and reduce you to a pulp! I’ll…”

”Now now, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We can do this two ways, either you hand over that poor boy and surrender or I’ll make you do it by force. What will It be?” she asked Jeanne D’arc and ducked under a piece of the pavement that was aimed at her head. ”Okay, take her by force it is” she murmured to herself. Chat Noire easily dodged the bits of pavement that Jeanne D’arc was throwing at her and lunge forward to drive her staff right in the acumas stomach. 

She was about to use a cataclysm on Adrien’s cage when a grenade exploded next to her. She looked up and to her dismay, she saw Grenadier standing on a nearby rooftop, lobbing grenades all over the place. 

”Stop it, you idiot! You could hurt my Adrikins!” Jeanne D’arc screamed at him and charged at him. Chat Noire took the opportunity to destroy Adrien’s cage with her cataclysm and jump away with him in her arms.

”I’m going to take you to safety, okay?” she told him.

”Just drop me off somewhere, I’ll manage” he responded.

”No, it’s better if I take you home so you don’t get hurt accidentally” she replied. ”Where do you live?” She asked him. 

”Near the… LOOK OUT!” He screamed. Chat Noire spun around and tried to dodge, but she was too late. Jeanne D’arc smashed into her with her shield, throwing her several meters in the air and landing on the next rooftop. Chat Noire groaned and stood up again, charging at Jeanne D’arc. 

They exchanged multiple blows as they sparred, Jeanne Dark’s sword fortunately not managing to penetrate her suit. Chat Noire was about to land another hit on the acuma when she saw a bomb flying at her from her peripheral vision. She jumped backward just in time, the bomb exploded almost directly in Jeanne D’arks’ face. She was getting overwhelmed, where was Beetle? 

She sighed and dodged another bomb that flew her way. Grenadier and Jeanne D’ark had started fighting again. Good, at least they weren’t able to cooperate. She jumped in and snatched Adrien away from the fighting acumas, jumping away towards his home again. 

“Chat Noire, I have an idea” Adrien exclaimed. Chat nodded and jumped away from the fighting acumas while Adrien explained his plan. It was a crazy idea, and she was sure that if Beetle was here, he never would have gone along with it. But since he was nowhere to be seen, she had to improvise.

  
——<><><><><>——

  
”Don’t be bemused, it’s just the news! Hello, I’m Nadja Chamack and I’m reporting live from the fight between our beloved heroes and hawkmoth victims. Yes, you heard me right, victims, plural. This time Hawkmoth has acumatized two victims to fight for him. It seems that the victim from yesterday has reappeared and has found a companion to fight Paris’ heroes with, although they don’t seem to get along very well. Beetle hasn’t shown up and Chat Noire is struggling to protect a civilian from the wrath of the acumas.”

Nadja Chamack took a pause in the commentary, letting the studio take over for a bit. Ever since the news stations started reporting live from the battlefield that appeared about every other day in Paris, she had never seen the heroes at such a disadvantage. She shot a worried look at Chat Noire and the civilian that where now playing a dangerous game of catch with the acumas. 

The first time she saw the heroes it hit her how young they were. They were probably around the same age as her best friend's daughter, and every fight she feared that one of them would get seriously hurt. But as the Parisian police had discovered, no-one but Chat Noire and Beetle could do anything about the acumatized victims. It felt a bit strange to rely on two teenagers to save the day, but they had no other choice. Beetle and Chat Noire had explained at several press conferences that they embraced their jobs fully and that they would stop at nothing to defeat Hawkmoth reign of terror. 

Nadja Chamack could only watch Chat Noire and silently cheer her on as she dodged the attacks that were thrown at her. Jeanne Dark lunged at her with her sword held high, but Chat Noire spun around holding Adrien like a human shield. Jeanne Dark deviated her sword to hit the ground instead and Chat Noire took the opportunity to activate cataclysm and strike her shield. It crumbled, turning into a broken vanity mirror and a purple butterfly flew up in the sky. Chat Noire snatched it out of the air and quickly placing it in a pocket of her suit. 

”Finally. I’m sorry about that Adrien” she said, jumping away from Grenadier.

”Don’t be, it was my idea after all” he said, rubbing the back of his head.

”Now that Chloe is back to normal, you can go away to hide.”

”Okay, just put me down in the nearest alley. I’ll manage from there.”

Chat Noire jumped down to a metro station and ran inside. She put Adrien down and jumped out to face the acuma again. Grenadier was blowing up every building he came across trying to find her after she shook him off to defeat Jeanne D’arc, so she jumped up behind him and hit him with her staff, knocking him down from the rooftop he was standing on. Grenadier’s fall was cut short as a red yoyo wrapped around his body and tied him to a lamppost. 

”Sorry, am I late to the party?” Beetle's voice came from the road below. Chat Noire sighed in frustration and relief and jumped down beside him.

”Where have you been? I’ve been holding off two acumas in my own for at least half an hour, and one was trying to take a civilian” Chat said with a tired tone.

”I’m sorry Chaton, I was held up and couldn’t come. But now that I’m here you don’t have to worry, everything is under contro…” Beetle said as an explosion came from the acuma who was now free. 

”Quick! Get his acumatized object!” Chat Noire shouted, jumping out of the way from a grenade that flew her way. She got a glimpse at a small bag on Grenadier’s back and snatched it with her staff, quickly whispering ’Cataclysm’ and it crumbled. A second butterfly appeared and beetle caught it with his yoyo, purifying it. Chat Noire drew a sigh of relief and handed over the second butterfly that had become a bit wrinkly after being in her pocket and letting Beetle purify it. The two heroes pounded their fists as the two butterflies disappeared into the city. 

”Bien joue!” the heroes said in unison. 

After beetle restored the city to its former not exploded glory, Chat Noire spoke with him. ”I have to go and check up on the civilian who got involved in the fight, so I’ll see you next time Beetle!” Chat Noire said waving goodbye and jumping up on a rooftop. Beetle stood waving his hand in response before he realized which person that Chat Noire meant, and zipped off towards the Agreste mansion.

  
——<><><><><>——

  
Chat Noire struggled a bit to find the Agreste mansion, but after a few failed attempts at locating the house and a quick google on her baton (she had no idea it even had internet), she arrived at her destination. She circled around, looking for a good spot enter when she saw Adrien in one of the windows. She landed on the roof and extended her pole to the ground and using it as an elevator to get down to the same hight as Adrien's window. She knocked gently with a leather-clad fist and saw Adrien spin around at the noise. His face lit up and he came over to the window, letting Chat Noire in. 

”Hi Adrien. Just wanted to check that you are okay after the battle” Chat Noire said, smiling at him. 

”Thank you. I’m all good!” Adrien said with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

”Adrien is something wrong?” Chat Noire asked him with a concerned look. His smile faltered just a tiny bit, but enough for Chat Noire to understand that her hunch was right.

”Seriously, I’m fine, there’s no need to worry” he said.

”Adrien, it’s okay not to be happy all the time. If you’re feeling down about something, you should talk about it. It’s bad to rack up negative feelings inside yourself, you’ll only feel worse.” Chat Noire said with a soft tone, taking his hand. 

Adrien looked away, his facade falling completely. “I just... he didn’t even say once that he had been scared for my wellbeing. He just gave me a lecture for being near the Acuma and getting caught” he said with an unsteady voice. 

“Who, your dad?” Chat Noire responded indignantly. ‘No, bad Marinette. He’s feeling down right now, you have loads of time afterward to be angry.’

Adrien nodded. He looked like he was going to break any second, but Chat Noire wasn’t letting that happen. She gave him a tight hug, only realizing a few seconds in that she was wearing a skintight leather suit. At least Adrien didn’t seem to mind as his body relaxed into her embrace. 

They stood like that for around half a minute, Chat Noire slowly drawing circles on his back with her hands. Adrien broke the embrace, not looking directly at her and he had a pink dusting on his ears and cheeks. ‘O shit, he also realized I’m in a skintight suit. I hope he doesn’t know that I don’t have anything underneath... Oh shut up Plagg!’

“Thank you Chat Noire. I really needed that apparently” he said with a soft tone. At least he seemed better now. 

”What are heroes for?” she chuckled, trying not to let her awkward thoughts slip into her speech. 

“Well I have to get going now, I have some other hero-stuff to do.” She turned and walked towards the window she came in from. 

“Wait.”

Chat Noire stopped in her tracks and turned around to face Adrien. “Could you come back another time? I know I’m asking a bit much, you’re Paris’ hero after all. But it was nice talking with you, and I’m grateful for the advice.” 

Chat’s face turned from surprise to a smile as she responded. ”Of course. See you next time!” she responded and jumped out of Adrien's window.

"..."

”You just got yourself a date with Chat Noire. Well done, I’m proud of you!” Tikki said after coming out from her hideout.

”Wait what?”


	4. A Change Of Heart (and just about everything else)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to my new 19 pages 8000+ words monstrosity. If you're wondering what the hell is going on here, I don't know either. This took way too long to write and I had to end it here because otherwise, it would've gotten even more out of hand. Sorry for the absolute confusion that is the later part of this chapter (you'll understand, trust me) but it was the most fun I've had writing ever. I have vague plans for the next chapter so let's see when I get around to write and post it.  
> *picks up a megaphone*  
> "Place your bets now (or after you read) in the comments below when you think the next chapter comes, ladies and gentlemen! The winner gets a figurative pat on the back and eternal glory!"
> 
> Enjoy :D

”Wow, Lila even flew with prince Ali in his private jet! Can you believe it?”

“Yeah, Jagged Stone even wrote a song about her!”

Adrien was torn from his thoughts by the students talking excitedly around him. He tried to listen in to what Rose and Juleka were talking about, but Nino approached to greet him. 

“Hey, dude! Have you heard the rumors going around? A new girl named Lila is coming today and apparently, she has met Spielberg! Maybe she can introduce me sometime! Isn’t it awesome?”

Lila. Were had Adrien heard that name before? He couldn’t quite remember, but he was sure he’d heard it somewhere. “Nice, maybe she could introduce you” he answered absentmindedly.

“What’s with you dude? That’s not like you to answer like that. A lot on your mind?”

“No, sorry I was just thinking I’ve heard her name before.”

“Well she seems like a celebrity so it wouldn’t be strange, you being a supermodel and all” Nino reasoned. Yeah, that was probably the case. How else could he recognize her name?

As the two friends entered the school they noticed that all the other students were talking about Lila. It seemed like the whole school had been put under a spell or something, which could absolutely be the case since Hawkmoth’s acumas were rampaging in the city on a daily basis. 

When they entered the classroom Adrien braced himself against the usual attack from Chloe, but it never came. He turned his gaze at her seat and to Adrien's disbelief, there she was silently scrolling through her phone with a strange expression on her face. ‘Oh right, she was acumatized last Friday’ he thought. The acuma on Sunday had almost made him forget about the double acumatization two days prior. 

He decided to put Chloe’s strange behavior on the back burner and turned his attention to his favorite thing to gawk at. Today Marinette was wearing a pink oversized knitted sweater, probably of her own making, paired with black jeans and black leather boots. She hadn’t put her hair in the usual pigtails but instead pulled it up in a messy bun that made her look even more gorgeous than usual. 

Nino snickered watching the daily occurrence of Adrien’s brain melting and went to greet Alya and Marinette. Adrien followed suit after overcoming his temporary cognitive impairment. 

“What’s up dudettes?” Nino greeted. 

“Good, how are you two?” Marinette responded with a smile directed at the two boys. Adrien melted on the spot again so Nino answered for him. “Were doing fantastic!” He said and shot a glance at Adrien. _‘Especially lover boy right here’_ he thought. 

“Did you know that Lila was saved by Beetle and talked to him for like half an hour after the fight?!?” Alya interrupted. 

Adrien snapped back to reality. That’s why he recognized the name! Had he already forgotten? Well, he’d had a lot of stuff on his mind lately (mainly Marinette, but also the date with Chat), but that didn’t justify it. 

“She did?!” Marinette squeaked. She looked like someone had punched her in the stomach. Why did Marinette care about that? _‘She must be jealous’_ Adrien reasoned. It wasn't that surprising, he was a very famous superhero and most teenage girls seemed to swoon as soon as he breathed in their vicinity. _‘Wait, could it be that Marinette likes Beetle too? Am I my own competition?’_

Adrien’s internal rambling was interrupted by a commotion from outside the classroom. Everyone turned to look towards the entrance just in time to see a new girl walk into the classroom, and judging by the murmurs from outside, she must be Lila. Adrien recognized her, she was indeed the girl from yesterday. She shot him a glance and for a split second he thought he saw a glimpse of recognition and surprise in her eyes, but when he looked again she had a normal expression and walked by him without saying a word. _’Weird, did I just imagine things? She couldn’t have recognized me, I was in costume’_ he thought. 

The classroom went dead silent, every conversation died instantly the moment Lila entered the classroom. Fortunately miss Bustier entered the classroom just after the already famous girl and everyone turned their attention towards their teacher.

”Good morning students, as you probably noticed we have a new face among us. Lila Rossi, would you be so kind to come here and introduce yourself?”

”Of course, it would be a pleasure.”

Adrien noticed that her smile didn’t reach her eyes. Adrien frowned. She walked up to the teacher’s desk and inhaled.

”Hello everyone! I’m Lila Rossi and I recently moved here from Italy. Fortunately, I speak almost perfect French, so not to worry, I can understand you all. I hope that we all get along and that we can have a fun and exciting year together!” Again her smile didn’t reach her eyes.

A few hands raised in the classroom. ”Yes, Rose?” Miss Bustier said.

”Is it true that you have traveled on Prince Ali’s private jet?”

”I’ve met him if that’s what you’re asking” Lila responded. 

”Is it true that you made friends with Beetle yesterday?” Alya said. Adrien could almost hear her thoughts from where he was sitting. _’MUST. INTERVIEW. ASAP.’_

”I wouldn’t say that, we just talked a little.” Adrien thought he saw her shoot a very short glance at him, but he disregarded the thought. She’d have to know his secret identity to recognize him, which was impossible. 

Even more hands were raised, but Miss Bustier intervened. ”Okay everyone, if you have more questions you can ask them after the lesson is finished. Thank you, Lila, you can go to your seat now.”

——<><><><><>——

After the lesson every student flocked around Lila’s seat, and since it was all the way in the back she was cornered and couldn’t escape.

”How is Spielberg? Is he as awesome in person? Ooh, I wish I could meet him too!”

”It’s so cool that Jagged Stone wrote a song about you!”

”Do you think that you could introduce me?”

”Me too!”

”Me three!”

Adrien chuckled at Lila who was trying to answer all the rapid-fire questions and noticed Chloe was not with the rest of the group. He frowned and walked up to her. ”Hey Chlo! Has something happened? You look a bit downcast.”

She jumped at his words but didn’t turn around nor say anything. That got Adrien worried for real. ”Okay, something is up with you. What’s going on?” 

She finally turned around but didn’t look Adrien in the eyes. ”I’m sorry.”

”Sorry for what?”

”I’m sorry for ruining our friendship.”

Oh. He was so stupid. Why did he say that two days ago? ”No, I’m the one who should be apologizing Chloe. I got angry at you and acted like an idiot. I still want you to be my friend. I’m sorry for being such a jerk.”

”But it’s true! I am mean! I treat everyone with no respect at all! I don’t deserve to be your friend, let alone to…” she stopped abruptly.

”While I can’t say that it isn’t true, you’re wrong about you not deserving to have me or other friends. I know that you actually are kind and really care about other people. You try to push them away but in reality, you like them. Sabrina sees that too.” _’She also blindly follows Chloe around for some reason, but that’s a problem for another time’_

Chloe looked up at Adrien and he saw that she had been crying. ”So what you’re saying is that you want me to be your friend?” she said so silently that he almost didn’t hear her. 

”Of course.”

Chloe smiled and turned away from him, looking out the window. ”You’re too kind Adrien, and someday it’s going to hurt you more than you can imagine.”

”We’ll see about that.”

”Well I’m going to go get some food, you coming with?” she asked him in a tired tone. 

”Just a second, I think someone is in need of being saved first” he chuckled looking at Lila.

”I’ll go save you a spot, see you in a bit.”

Adrien smiled. Chloe was really kind when you broke her hard surface. He just wished she would open up more to others. Hell, she’d almost made him believe that she had changed fully into a spoiled brat.

He walked up to the mob at the back and with some difficulty squeezed himself forward so that he could talk.

”Hey Lila, want to join me and Chloe for lunch?”

He saw the gratitude in her eyes even before she spoke. ”Yes, thank you.” He grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the wall of their classmates. 

”Alya, and Marinette, you coming too?” He said, letting go of Lila’s hand.

”Were coming, were coming!” Alya answered, looking very excited.

”Dude, what about me?” Nino asked with a look of betrayal.

”Of course, that's a given” Adrien said, making Nino smirk.

”Also, no more questions about Beetle during lunch” Nino scolded Alya.

”Make me” she rebutted.

”Don’t mind Alya, she gets very excited whenever the subject is heroes” Marinette said, smiling at Lila.

”I’m right here…”

Lila looked at the friendly banter between them with an amused expression. ”No problem, you can ask me while we eat” she said to Alya who immediately got a hungry look on her face. 

”Question” Marinette whispered to Adrien. ”Why does Chloe have to be with us?” Her voice sent chills down Adrien's spine while his brain exploded into a fireworks show.

”E… ehh… sh-she i-isn't so b-bad you know?” _’Why do I have to stutter now of all times?’_

Marinette's expression darkened a bit. ”I know you are her friend and all, but she’s not the least bit friendly to anyone else. No offense, but she’s the worst person I know.” 

”I t-talked with her earlier, and she doesn’t really want to be mean. You’ll see.”

”Okay I’ll trust you” Marinette said and huffed. ”But I’m not talking to her if I don’t have to. If she wants to change, she can start by showing us that she is actually capable of having a normal conversation without getting bossy.”

——<><><><><>——

A butterfly-shaped window opened to reveal a man standing in the light of the window cast in the otherwise dark room. The man was wearing a purple business suit, a butterfly-shaped brooch on his chest and a silver-colored mask that covered everything but his eyes. Grey, cold and calculating. This man’s name was Hawkmoth. Well not his real name, just the name he had chosen to terrify the city and ultimately triumph over Chat Noire and Beetle with. 

Those two… they made him unbelievably angry. They didn’t understand anything! He wasn’t doing this for himself! They were so selfish to stand against him and trample all over his dreams. If the roles were swapped they surely understand and… wait. Of course. Why didn’t he think of that earlier? It was so simple, it solved the problems he had been facing all along.

”What will you do now, damned heroes? I’ve come up with the perfect plan, the one that you can’t counter” he said in a low tone, a big manic grin stretching out over his face. ”This will be the last battle you ever fight.”

He chuckled as he felt Nooroo’s fear for what he had in mind. That just motivated him even more, even his Kwami knew that it was nearly impossible for the heroes to win.

——<><><><><>——

Lila didn’t believe her eyes at first. Adrien, really? How didn’t anyone else see it? Granted, she only noticed because of the constant advice her foxy friend used to give her. _”Always be aware of your surroundings. Every problem is a puzzle that is easily solved by creating the missing pieces from the outlines of the ones that you already possess. Figuring people out is the same deal”_ she said, every time. Lila used to think that it was annoying. Nowadays though, she understood how naive she had been and wanted to go back in time and kick her younger self. Maybe it was karma playing Lila a sick joke that he never got to see how Lila had changed. Scratch that, it was definitely the case. _’Karma is a bitch.’_

Lila’s train of thought was interrupted by Marinette. She had asked her a question and was waiting for an answer.

”Sorry, could you repeat? I was lost in thought” Lila said, quickly scrambling to reinstitute order in her thoughts.

”I was asking if you wanted to come by my parents' bakery with us after school.”

”They make really good pastries” Adrien added with a dreamy expression, his mouth watering at the thought.

”And they tend to spoil us” Alya continued.

”I’ll definitely come with” Lila responded, smiling at all of them. She’d noticed that the blonde girl was sitting a bit away from everyone else and keeping to herself. What was her name? She couldn’t remember. Adrien said it once in the classroom, but she (understandably) wasn’t paying attention at the time. Her new classmates were nice, but they were a bit too enthusiastic. She moved over a seat so that she was infront of the blonde girl. 

”I don’t believe we’ve been introduced. My name is Lila, pleased to meet you” she said and reached out with her hand. The blonde took it after seemingly thinking it over and murmured ”Chloe” before resuming to pick at her food. 

Adrien shot a worried glance at Chloe but continued talking with the others. _’Well then, time to cheer her up I guess.’_

”Chloe as in Chloe Bourgeois?”

Chloe nodded. Oh, so she was the mayor's daughter. 

”I think I’ve met you one time before, actually” Lila said, trying to take the nonexistent conversation somewhere. ”I think we were around eight at the time and my family was visiting your dad’s hotel. Do you remember? I had a lot shorter hair then. Here, I have some photos of us two actually, do you…”

”Why are you trying to talk to me?” Chloe interrupted her.

”Well, you looked a bit downcast and we met a few times as kids so I thought…”

”Don’t bother” she responded cutting her off. Chloe took her half-eaten food and left, leaving a surprised Lila behind. 

“She’s not feeling well today, don’t take it personally” Adrien said, looking at Lila with his big green beautiful eyes. 

“Yeah, I got that even before she left. No offense taken” Lila responded easily, keeping her rampant thoughts locked up deep in her mind. This was the last thing she needed after all. 

Adrien smiled and turned to the others. They chatted a bit more and left to go to the next lesson. Chloe was absent so Lila didn’t get to talk, but it didn’t matter. _‘There’s always tomorrow.’_

——<><><><><>——

The rest of the day went by fast, and her classmates didn’t ask her too many more questions, except for Alya of course. The girl wouldn’t even care if hawkmoth himself stood between her and something she wanted. 

After the school day ended Lila went with her newfound friends to Marinette’s parent’s bakery. They were all welcomed with big smiles and a leftover batch of macarons that got a bit smushed, hence it couldn’t be sold. The teens took the macarons and went out towards the nearest park. The macarons from Marinette's parents were the best ones Lila had ever tasted, even if they weren’t exactly the right shape. Lila smiled. She had a feeling that she would find her new classmates much more enjoyable to be with than her previous ones.

”So Lila, how is it that you know Jagged Stone so well that he wrote a song about you?” Marinette's voice interrupted Lilas's thoughts for a second time that day. Marinette had struck her as more suspicious around her than the other students, but she didn’t know why. Well, she had nothing to hide… who was she kidding, that wasn’t true. But still, she had a good reason. 

”Do you know the Italian hero Volpina? I helped her to save Jagged Stone from some kidnappers who hijacked his plane” Lila said reluctantly. _’Don’t sound like you’re high off your own voice, keep it modest. You’ve got this.’_

”I happened to be on the same one so I was a hostage too, and helped her a little. Nothing big at all. After that, Jagged Stone got inspired by Volpinas heroics and wrote a song about her, and he included a bit about me too. Although you have to know it was me he wrote about, otherwise, you can’t understand who he is referring to in the song.”

”Wait, do you know Volpina?” Alya said, intrigued by the story. ”Didn’t she disappear like a year and a half ago?”

”Yeah, no one knows why” Lila said with a hint of sadness on her face. 

Marinette frowned and was about to say something, but a commotion down the street go the teens' attention at the same time the acuma warning app pinged loudly on all their phones. 

”My lucky day! A fight with Beetle and Chat Noire! See you later guys!” Alya said and ran off in the direction of the commotion. 

”Alya please!” Marinette groaned, but it was too late. The girl was already out of hearing distance. 

”I’ll go and keep her out of trouble” Nino sighed and got up. ”I’ll join you” Lila said and ran after Alya. ”Come on, let’s go!”

”My father wants me to go to a safe place during the fights, I’ll see you later Marinette” Adrien said and took off towards the nearby subway station.

”Well, that was easy” Plagg’s voice came from behind Marinette. She turned around to pet his head, making him purr. ”No rest for us heroes, huh. Plagg, Transform me!”

Marinette felt the amazing feeling of the transformation and after the light faded, she jumped up on a rooftop in the direction of the Acuma. She saw it and hid behind a chimney on the roof she was standing on. The Acuma had a strange appearance that changed continuously, making it impossible to guess what she really looked like. She didn’t cause all that much damage, she was just standing in the streets shooting beams at people that didn’t appear to do anything. _’Strange. It appears like she just confuses people.’_

”Why hello, what is a fine lady like yourself doing on this rooftop on an afternoon like this?”

”Hello, Beetle” Chat Noire greeted him, not looking back. _’I didn’t stutter!’_

_’Pssh, great job kid.’_

_’Shut up, Plagg!’_

”It appears to be a pretty harmless Acuma, I don’t really know what her powers are” Chat said, a pink dusting on her cheeks as she looked up to meet Beetle’s eyes. His big, green eyes that she just wanted to stare into forever. Her gaze moved down towards his lips, which looked so nice and kissable… _’Whyyyy?’_

”Well, it just means we get more free time in our suits” he added with a wink, unknowingly making Marinette's brain short-circuit itself and reboot on the spot.

”D-Don’t underestimate the enemy, Beetle” she managed to sputter out, desperately trying to ignore a laughing cat in her mind.

”I would never! Come on, let’s go get it.”

The two heroes jumped down from the roof, Chat Noire landing on the Acuma to tackle it. She pushed it down into the ground, holding its arms down. Beetle landed beside her and wrapped it up with his yoyo, careful not to get his partner stuck too. 

”That was easy” he said, looking over at Chat.

”Don’t underestimate me!” the acuma shouted, shooting a beam out of her hand that wasn’t completely stuck in the string. _’Well that went to shit pretty fast…’_ Chat Noire jumped in front of Beetle to shield him, but the beam enveloped the two heroes, blinding them temporarily. When the light faded, Marinette felt strange. _’Something is wrong here.’_

”My lady?” Beetle’s voice came from beside her. Marinette looked up at him and her jaw fell at what she saw. He was wearing a skintight black leather suit with a golden bell and a ring on his hand. The leather hugged his form tightly, almost making Marinette swoon on the spot. She looked at her own hand. The ring was gone, replaced by a red yoyo with black spots. ”Oh, fuu…” They had somehow changed Miraculous. In the middle of the fight.

”Hahahahaha!” A large group of Purple butterflies came out of the Acumas mouth, flying in the shape of Paris’ infamous villain. Hawkmoth's voice echoed around the buildings, startling the two heroes. ”What will you do now, Beetle and Chat Noire? What will you do with an unfamiliar power? Will you try to resist helplessly until my Acuma overwhelms you?” The Acuma now free from the yoyo string ran to swipe their Miraculous, but Marinette tackled Beetle into the nearest alley. 

”Beetle we need to get out of here NOW!” Chat Noire shouted. 

”Right behind you, my lady” he groaned, getting up and running after his partner. The acuma followed hot on their tail, shooting more beams at the pair. They dodged and weaved until Marinette saw an opportunity to get away. Turning abruptly into another alley she grabbed Beetle with her yoyo. The acuma went right past them, buying the two heroes a few seconds. They immediately jumped up on the nearest roof and hid from the view of the alley just as the Acuma came back. 

”Where are you? I’m going to find you Heroes, and when I do I’ll rip those Miraculuses off you!”

They heard the acuma’s footsteps go further down the road and when they disappeared they let out a breath of relief and looked at each other. Marinette held her breath not to let out a squeak as she saw Beetle in her suit. The leather hugged his form tightly, showing off his well-defined muscles in a VERY different way than his normal suit did. She had to consciously stop herself from drooling all over her suit (Beetle’s Kwami Tikki probably wouldn’t want that) and shook herself mentally _’Bad Marinette! Focus on saving the city, not your very adorable, very good looking and drool-inducing partner!’_

_’Please do tell me more…’_

_’T-TIKKI?!?’_

_’Oh, you two are hilarious! Hello! I am the ladybug Kwami Tikki as you already know. You’re right Marinette, right now you need to save the city but feel free to vent all the juicy gossip about Beetle you want to me later~'_ Marinette could practically hear her rubbing her (Paws? Insect legs?) together. She shuddered, Tikki sounded way too much like Alya when someone mentioned gossip or hero theories. Scary. 

”My lady, what is the plan? You have one, right?” Beetle interrupted Marinette’s mental rambling and discussion with Tikki and cleared her throat. 

”N-Not really, I just thought the best thing would be to get away as quickly as possible to weigh our options. Right now we are at a heavy disadvantage since we have new powers and weapons we aren’t used to. We need to learn to use them right now, otherwise Hawkmoth will toast us.” Marinette bit her lip. She didn’t like this at all, they had never been at such a disadvantage before.

”Couldn’t we just swap back our miraculous?” Beetle asked.

”Y-Yeah… why didn’t I think of that? Ha ha haa…” Marinette internally facepalmed. Perfect. She just had to look stupid to Beetle now of all times. She heard Tikki giggle. She was even worse than Plagg.

”Well then… I’ll go behind this chimney and detransform, then we can swap Miraculous” Beetle said. 

”O-okay!” _’Stop thinking about Beetle detransforming! Bad Marinette! Wait, does he wear anything under the suit? What if he just came out of the shower! Gaaaahh!’_

Beetle walked over to the chimney, checking that no-one was around. He hid behind it and threw another glance around for good measure. ”Tik… Ehm… Plagg, detransform me.” 

Nothing happened. ”Did I say it wrong? Plagg, detransform me!” Nothing again. 

”Beetle?” Chat Noire’s voice came from behind the chimney. ”I can’t detransform” he said, alarmed. Shit. They had a BIG problem at hand.

——<><><><><>——

Lila tightened the grip on her phone and peeked around the building she was standing behind to look at the street. _’How are they supposed to do this? They’ve swapped powers! They will be completely thrown off balance! I need to figure something out.’_ Lila sighed. If only he was still here… no. She couldn’t think like that. 

She hid behind the building again and sighed. _’I need to do something.’_ But was she supposed to do? Could she even do something without getting swapped with another person or taken hostage? This acuma didn’t seem interested in anything but the heroes at least. 

After sneaking away from Nino (which wasn’t hard at all) Lila stayed just outside the Acumas visual range, but now she lost it.

Lila ran down the street towards another building, trying to spot the acuma. She couldn’t hear any signs of life at all. Where did it go? A loud thump from behind startled Lila and she whipped around to look straight into the everchanging eyes of the acuma. _’Oh shit.’_

”Lila Rossi! I am Swapper and I want to swap places with you!” it boomed.

 _’What?’_ The acuma ignored her confused expression and continued with the monologue.

”You are so popular, have met with so many famous people and could be friends with everyone! Meanwhile, I don’t have a single friend! How is that fair?” the Acuma asked her with an accusatory gaze. Lila was still too shocked to move. _’Who would willingly want to be me? Is she out of her mind?'_

”It isn’t! So, I’m going to take your place! You don’t deserve to have all that fame for yourself” the Acuma answered Its own question and raised her hand.

Before Lila could snap back to reality, the acuma fired the beam at her. Before the beam enveloped her completely, Lila silently apologized to her long-gone friend. _’I’m sorry, Trixx. I never thought I would fall so low as to be Acumatized…’_

——<><><><><>——

Marinette swung around semi-confidently with her yoyo. She and Beetle had taught each other the basics in as much time as they dared to waste. Their Kwami’s had helped immensely by correcting their mistakes before they even made them sometimes and helping the heroes out as much as possible. Marinette felt pretty reassured by knowing that she had an ageless deity watching over her, but she was still nervous. What if she screwed up? What if everyone thought she was useless as a hero?

_’Marinette, calm down. Your heart is almost vibrating with how fast it's beating. You’ll be fine, we already talked about this.’_

_’Yes I know, but it still terrifies me. What if you can’t make me use my latent instincts? What if I fail when everyone in Paris is counting on me the most?’_

_’Everyone in the city believes in you. Everyone smiles and regains their hope when they see Chat Noire, the superheroine that stood alone against the biggest threat Paris had faced. It’s no wonder people favor you before Beetle. Firstly he is content with staying in second place and give the spotlight to you and secondly, you are the original. The one that almost got crushed into the ground by a huge stone golem and still continued fighting. Yes, Beetle saved you, but it was you who continued to take on the acuma without fear or hesitation! He admires you, you know? He sees just what Plagg saw in you when he chose you. That raw determination to do the right thing despite your fear and insecurities.’_

Marinette was at a loss for words, her mind racing to understand the new revelations. She continued to swing from building to building completely lost in thought.

Tikki snorted. _’See, I told you. Look, You’re a natural. Keep going like this and you’ll outclass Beetle in no-time. Go get ’em sugarplum!'_

_’Thank you Tikki, that really helped. You are the best at cheering people up.’_

_’Thats the reason I’m here. I know Plagg can be grumpy and whine a lot, but he cares a lot about you.’_

_’Yeah, figured as much. He keeps up a facade of not caring, but inside he’s a softie who wants cheese and cuddles. Kinda like cheese actually. If someone dared hurt me he’d probably cataclysm them without a second thought.’_

_’You might be more on point than you think. But now is not the time for that. Remember what Beetle and I taught you, and everything will be fine in the end.’_

Marinette tiny smile grew to a face wide smirk. ”What are you smiling about, m’lady-bug?” Beetle shouted at her from her left. She eyed him over as he jumped with the baton, her expression getting smug. 

”I bet I’m faster in your suit than you are in mine!” 

His stunned expression slowly changed into a competitive smirk of his own. ”Oh, you’re on!”

——<><><><><>——

Alya cheered and brought up her phone when Paris’ two heroes swung by over the street, landing on top of a building looking down on the square were the acuma was standing. The acuma hadn’t moved for about five minutes now, and she didn’t even flinch when she saw the heroes. Like she was waiting for their next move. The heroes talked to themselves in hushed voices for a few seconds and Chat Noire had a hesitant look on her face. Beetle put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly, making her smile. 

They split up, Chat Noire jumped down towards the acuma and Beetle circled around to harass it from behind. 

“There we have it, folks! Looks like the strategy our beloved heroes have chosen is their usual one, despite switched costumes!” Alya commentated on the fighting, almost jumping on the spot in excitement. But that would ruin the shot, so she held herself back. 

Chat Noire went in for a close-up battle, but just as she was about to swing at the acuma she threw her yoyo sideways and avoided the strike from the acuma. Beetle chose that moment to appear behind the acuma and hit her with his staff as hard as he could. She flew into a store, smashing the display window and several things inside judging by the sounds echoing around the street. 

“Look at that deception! Do we have a sweet victory for our heroes once again, ladies and gentlemen? Stay tuned to find out!”

———<><><><><>———

Lila was furious. She’d never been this angry before, not even when her best friend disappeared. Not even when her father tried to manipulate her for the zillionth time. She had never felt true wrath like this. It felt soooo good to just let it all out. 

She glared at the heroes from inside the wrecked store whilst she got up from the pile of rubble behind her. _‘I wonder what would happen if I switched out their internal organs?’_

 _‘Hahaha! Good, swapper! Your hate isn’t like anything I’ve seen before! Go get those miraculous and you will be handsomely rewarded!’_ Hawkmoth said trough their mental link. 

She scoffed. _‘What makes you think I’ll give them to you?’_

_‘How insolent! I gave you your powers! I can take them away just as easily!’_

_‘That's where you’re wrong. I’m not Swapper, not your pet. If you get in the way of my mission I’ll make sure you regret it.’_

Lila could hear Hawkmoth swallow down a lump of fear and cut off the connection. Now it was time to focus. She walked out of the store thinking of the most painful ways she could get rid of the heroes. But was that really the right thing to do? Of course it was. Why should they have each other when she hand lost all she had? It wasn’t fair. 

_‘But Trixx wouldn’t want this’_ a tiny voice came from a corner in her mind. Lila shuddered and shoved that voice so deep into her dark thoughts it drowned instantly. 

“Shut up” she growled and took another battle stance. If they thought they could beat Volpina they were VERY wrong. 

“Bring it!” She shouted at the heroes. 

———<><><><><>———

Chat and Beetle were both startled when the acuma spoke. Now that was a common occurrence, but they always monologued about why and how they would take their miraculous. But this was different. Her hate-filled voice Marinette shudder, sending a few tingles down her spine. And not the good ones like when she saw Beetle in what used to be her leather super suit for the first time before. A very bad feeling in her gut made itself known.

“Beetle we need to watch out, she’s not normal. Tell everyone to evacuate quickly, this could get really bad.”

He nodded and extended his staff, jumping towards the reporters and all the people watching. Everybody following his orders pretty quick when they saw the worry in the hero’s eyes. 

Marinette locked eyes with the acuma, none of the two moving. The acuma didn’t look the same as before, her changing features somehow different. Marinette couldn’t help but feel like she recognized her face from somewhere, but that was likely impossible. She hadn’t even met as many people as she changed to. 

The staredown lasted about fifteen seconds, then the acuma lunged at her with a speed Marinette hadn’t seen before. She barely dodged the changing beam and got some distance from swapper by grappling onto a light post with her yoyo. _’If she’s changed somehow I wonder if her abilities have too? We need to be careful and not find out the hard way.’_

She shot a quick glance at Beetle and seeing that he was almost done she jumped up on a building further away from the civilians. Swapper followed Marinette with her gaze, not taking the bait. _’She’s way smarter and more intuitive than anyone that has been acumatized before. It’s almost like she predicts what I’ll try to do next. I need to think of ideas I normally never consider. What would Beetle do?’_

Marinette desperately tried to think about what her partner usually did. Distracting the enemy when needed. Turning the attention away from herself so she could get in a good hit. 

”Hey, Swapper! What happened? Did you accidentally swap your brain with a garbage can?”

”What did you say?”

_’Good, that got your attention.’_

”Well you seem so slow I thought you might have. Wait, I understand now! It wasn’t your brain, you swapped your legs out with the pavement! Poor thing…”

Swapper roared with anger and almost appeared in front of Marinette with how fast she was going. Fortunately, Marinette had prepared for something like this. She danced past the acuma, taunting her even more. Swapper was practically fuming, getting more sloppy by the anger clouding her judgement. Marinette pretended to go for an attack, but at the last second, she dashed to the side with her yoyo and Beetle appeared before Swapper and smashed her through the roof of the vacant building. Marinette followed up by swinging her yoyo in a wide arc down into the hole, causing the acuma to shriek in pain and smash through another floor. 

”Did we go too far?” Beetle asked, a bit concerned. 

”No, we probably didn’t do enough. She was extremely fast and tough when I fought her just now and had a crazy intuition. We need to think outside the box to defeat her, otherwise she’ll probably steamroll us in a matter of minutes.”

Beetle frowned and jumped down into the gaping hole. Half a second later he came shooting back up, uppercutted by a furious acuma. Marinette quickly grabbed her leg with the yoyo and used it to swing Swapper around, over her head and smashed her into the street, forming a miniature crater and a lot of dust.

Unbeknownst to the heroes, a few buildings away Alya was hiding to capture the battle on tape.

”To you newcomers, I’m Alya Cesaire from the Miraculous blog, coming to you live from the newest acuma fight. Beetle told everyone in the vicinity to evacuate and the heroes are currently fighting the acuma, who seems way more powerful than any before her. It seems like our heroes are taking no chances and going all out, dishing out as much punishment as they can before the acuma can retaliate. Ever since they got hit by the beam they’ve changed costumes and powers our more speculate viewers have discussed interesting theories on the Miraculous blog. All we can do is hope that our heroes Ladybug and Chat Noir, which someone pointed out in the comments would be a good name for their new personas, succeed.”

———<><><><><>——— 

After the battle had gone on for about an hour Marinette was feeling exhausted. No, wrong word. A better one for this lunacy was war. A huge portion in the middle of Paris looked like someone had decided to do an air raid in broad daylight. The police force had evacuated everyone in a 500 meter radius from the fight after the destruction got out of hand and just nearly managed to get everyone away. Chat and Beetle tried to swing and punch Swapper in the direction there were mostly destroyed buildings and the least amount of people, but it didn’t always work. The closest call yet was when Swapper almost destroyed a hospital. 

The acuma didn’t seem to care about civilians getting hurt or not, but a few times Marinette thought she saw her purposely waiting a bit longer before blasting the two heroes with her beam to avoid nearby civilians. _’Although it could be she didn’t have a good enough shot.’_ _  
_

This was by far the most destructive fight and strange acuma they had fought, both by affected civilians swapped with another and by the property damage. Marinette just hoped they hadn’t accidentally killed anyone in the destroyed buildings. 

Swappers beam had the annoying ability to swap out random stuff it hit, which meant that a wall could be replaced by a lamppost every time she missed the heroes. Which was a lot, hence the destruction. Both Heroes knew they needed to end things now, but they honestly didn’t know how anymore. They’d already thrown everything they had at the acuma several times, but nothing worked. Marinette had tried summoning a lucky charm, but it was such a strange item she didn’t even know where to begin. Like, what could she do with a display linked to the city’s traffic cameras?

Both heroes were getting More and more tired, indicated by the disappearing dots on their Miraculous jewels, and they hadn’t even used their respective abilities apart from the Lucky Charm. At this point, Marinette heavily doubted she would be able to use Restore to fix everything. At least they hadn’t been hit and swapped by the acumas beam yet. Or rather, Beetle had been hit at least four times but since there wasn’t anyone close swap him with (apart from Marinette of course) and Beetle threw himself infront of any shot coming towards her they had yet to swap again. 

But they were seriously running out of time. Marinette scoured her brain for ideas as she swung Swapper into the same destroyed house for the fifth time. The last walls caved and the whole building collapsed on top of the acuma, but the heroes already knew it probably wouldn’t even faze her. Marinette was getting sloppy from the exhaustion, and didn’t dodge the beam aimed at her in time from were the house once stood. 

She got hit right in the stomach, knocking the air out of her lungs and launching into a building on the opposite side of the building. She crashed through two walls of a house, flew across the street behind the house and went through another one before the fourth barely stopped her trajectory. 

_’Owww, that really hurt.’_ She groaned and got up, swiping away a few sweaty blonde strands of her hair from her face. _’Wait, a minute…’_

Marinette hurriedly got up and jumped through the nearest window, landing beside a startled Alya. 

”What are you doing here?! You should be evacuated with everyone else! Do you even know how dangerous it is here?” Marinette said in a mix of anger and exasperation.

”I’m here to document everything! By the way, Ladybug, why do you have blonde hair?”

”Do you understand that you could be swapped out with one of us and get killed? Or our identities would be exposed and Hawkmoth could come after us as civilians! It was already close enough the first time! Just stay away for both of our safety.” 

Marinette knew Alya wouldn’t evacuate even if she detransformed and pleaded on her knees, but at least she hopefully would stay more hidden. 

”Wait what do you mean by first time?”

”Just stay. Away” Marinette said sternly and swung away towards the war zone once again. It looked like Beetle had tried to use cataclysm and failed miserably, judging by the huge gaping hole in the ground. She saw him get cornered and grabbed the acuma’s legs, destroying yet another barely standing house to gain a few seconds to talk. 

”Uhhh, why do you have blonde hair?” Beetle said, confused.

Marinette sighed. ”She swapped our hair colors. At this point I don’t think it can become worse than this, we should try to let her hit us and get back our regular abilities.”

”Well I have no other idea so let’s go with it.”

They felt a blast from the side and their hairstyles swapped. The heroes charged at the acuma again.

”Hey, you look good in short hair!” I wonder how it would look with your regular hair color.”

”Would you focus a little more on the fight?” Marinette scoffed, half amused, half annoyed but mostly too tired to care.

The heroes were blasted by a changing beam again, followed up at a swipe at Marinette’s earrings that she avoided. 

”See, I told you. Thank you for the fast hairdye delivery!” Beetle taunted the acuma. Swapper growled and tried to punch him in the face but he parried with his staff.

”You don’t look so bad yourself. If you had a ponytail you could easily cosplay as Chloe Bourgeous.” 

”Your just jealous” he pouted and got blasted with another beam. ”Wow, look at that! I’m a woman!” He… She? shouted surprised. 

”We could basically swap hero names now” Marin commented with a tired smile, punching Swapper in the face and making her stagger back. 

She-who-once-was-Beetle-and-now-Chat snickered and followed up by bashing Swapper repeatedly with her staff. ”You’re right! Let’s go Beetle! I’ll bash her and you throw her into the ground!” 

”The fanfiction community is going to have a field day with this amount of free ideas” Black-haired-Beetle said and swung around the acuma. 

”Not that they needed any more inspiration. Have you seen what insanities they’ve written? It’s ridiculous.” Chat Noire shook her head.

”Utterly ridiculous.” Beetle added with a smirk. 

”Will you stop it!” Swapper roared in anger and blasted the heroes with a continuous beam making them change so fast they looked like two copies of both of them blending into one. The two heroes staggered back and started to advance against the force pushing them back. One of them (They weren’t even distinguishable at this point) grabbed Swapper’s face and shoved it into the ground. The beam faded, revealing a male Chat with blonde hair, blue eyes gripping a yoyo in his(?) hand. 

”Uuugh, I’m gonna feel sick. I think we actually became each other for a second” a female Beetle with green eyes, black hair with a staff groaned.

”Yes, we have our normal abilities back!” Now-blond-and-male-previously-Marinette shouted victoriously. 

”Hahaha! Prepare for your doom, acuma!” female-Beetle-Ladybug-I-don’t-even-know-anymore cackled.

Chat bashed Swappers face into the ground repeatedly whilst Beetle bashed the acuma everywhere else.

After what felt like enough, Chat lifted Swappers head and stared right at her slightly wobbly eyes. ”Are you gonna tell us where the acuma is or are we going to have to continue until you tell us?” As emphasis to what Chat said Beetle cackled madly behind her. 

”I don’t have it” she managed to get out.

”Well then, the hard way it is” Chat sighed and took a better grip on Swapper’s head.

”No wait! I’m not even the acuma! The real one swapped places with me and put me in a berserk mode. She swapped bodies with me, she looks like me! Please go get her before I loose control again…” not Swapper grunted.

”Who are you then? What do you look like?” Beetle looked skeptically at the ever-changing features of the supposedly non-acuma.

”Beetle you know me, I’m Lila. You saved me and we talked for a bit.”

”Well, I’m sorry to hear that you became… whatever you are now, but we need you to be out of commission for now, so please understand and don’t resist as we knock you unconscious” Chat said in a businesslike manner.

Lila gulped and nodded. 

Somewhere in Paris, Hawkmoth shuddered in his lair. _'That... didn't go as planned. dammned heroes!"_

———<><><><><>——— 

Nino sighed. He and Lila hadn’t found Alya and even worse, she was streaming the fight from inside the closed-off area in the city. At least he, Lila, Adrien and Marinette were safe for the moment. He watched the heroes laying on the ground to catch their breath beside unconscious acuma on Alya’s stream, relieved that this was finally over. 

Chat got up and started to search Swapper for the purple butterfly. Beetle exchanged a few words with his/her partner and walked up to Alya. She asked Beetle a few questions about the fight and in the middle of the answer of the third one, the stream died. 

Nino frowned at his phone with a worried look but deduced that Alya’s phone probably ran out of battery. She was with the heroes so she was probably fine. 

After about five minutes the stream came back on and he and Lila leaned in to watch. Alya was apologizing for forgetting to plug in her power bank and continued asking Beetle questions.

”Lila Rossi, rather acuma, Swapper or whatever, get over here with your hands above your head!” A voice shouted from behind Nino. He and Lila whipped around and saw Beetle and Chat (if they even could be called by name anymore, they were not what they used to be) point their weapons at Lila. 

”I’ve changed personalities at least 16 different times in the span of a few seconds and I’m seriously pissed off, so I won’t be asking a second time.” The one in the red suit said with a slightly mad tone. 

Nino backed away from Lila as the heroes approached. Lila looked pissed but didn’t dare do anything. 

The hero in the catsuit stretched out his hand to Lila. ”Acuma.” 

Lila silently glanced at a purple bracelet she wore on her left wrist. 

The hero snatched from her arm and ripped it in two without blinking. The butterfly came flying out but before it had time to anywhere the cat-themed hero grabbed it, almost crushing it. 

”Beetle, if you would” Chat said and offered her butterfly and yoyo.

”Of course.”

Nino finally got over his stupor over what just happened and asked the question everyone around them was wondering. ”But how are you in two places at the same time?”

Chat turned. ”Watch the stream, should be about time now.”

Stream-Beetle finished answering the question and looked over towards stream-Chat. ”It’s about time we end this farce” she said and chat nodded. The heroes took Swapper and jumped away. 

”Now, I’ll explain to you what’s really happening! Before, when the stream was down on purpose, Beetle explained their plan which consisted of me streaming him answering questions without an internet connection while Chat located the real acuma with the lucky charm. Swapper swapped bodies with a civilian that went on a rampage with the real swappers acumatization as you all know. The real acuma hid in her body and hid in plain sight. After they located the real acuma, I activated the internet connection again and let the stream catch up. I can’t believe I got an exclusive interview AND got to help Chat and Beetle! By now, they’ve hopefully captured the real one. Updates on the situation coming soon, stay tuned!” The stream ended.

A wave of Ladybugs washed over the destroyed city, the heroes, every person with swapped minds and Lila, turning everything back to its original state. 

”Finally, it’s over” Chat Noire said, holding an almost unconscious Beetle in her arms. She smiled fondly at him and walked up towards the real Lila. 

”I’m gonna take him to rest, but then I need you to explain what happened. Where do you live?” Chat Noire asked her.

Lila nodded in silence and gave Chat a piece of paper she scribbled her address on. 

”Get home and rest or something until I arrive. Don’t bother with the press, you should go before they get here. See you in a bit, okay?”

Lila nodded and turned to walk towards the nearest subway. Chat Noire watched her with a concerned glance and jumped up on the nearest rooftop with her staff, disappearing out of sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Lila. If you liked this, then you might want to check out my other fanfiction I started almost exactly a month ago (heh shameless plug) but in all seriousness, stay safe and let's hope 2021 is better than the year-which-should-not-be-named.
> 
> The adrichat will make a comeback in the next chapter, don't you worry.


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